CREJ

JUNE 2017 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \

n 2016, industry legend John Atencio celebrated

his 40th year in the retail jewelry business. To

mark this remarkable milestone, he decided to

bring a fresh, new design aesthetic to his show-

rooms to better reflect his own personal evolution

and position his firm for the future. Critical to this

vision was the long anticipated reopening of a Boul-

der location last fall. Tucked into a street-level space

in the beautiful new Pearl West Building, this newest

addition to Atencio’s string of popular retail boutiques

brings his 1990s flirtation with Boulder full circle.

“Boulder is such a hot spot right now,” Atencio shares.

“There is so much going on, and the higher-end clientele

is a perfect match for our business. Pearl West also recruit-

ed us early on, and we’ve been thrilled with the outcome.”

As a native of Colorado, Atencio began his retail journey in jewelry de-

State University in Fort Collins. He eventually expanded to Boulder, then

opened a storefront on Denver’s Larimer Square in 1994. Today, in addi-

tion to seven retail boutiques and 10 distribution points, he also has an

extensive wholesale business, an e-commerce outlet and an insurance

enterprise.

Over the course of the last four decades, Atencio has brought in out-

side people, financing and jewelry at various stages, and did all the man-

ufacturing for his own designs. At one point, he had more than 100 peo-

ple working for him in design, production and sales with retail locations

across the western U.S. After surviving the recession, however, he decided

to simplify.

“Today, I design everything we sell and it’s made all over the world,” he

explains. “I ammore of a designer now. I contract everything and we have

a smaller core staff of under 40. As a result, we have better quality, stron-

ger branding, more freedom, and I’mmore proud of my work than ever.”

An Evolution in Design

To help fulfill his anniversary vision, Atencio turned to Denver-based

Semple Brown. For more than two decades, we have worked together on

the design of his Larimer Square, ParkMeadows, Cherry CreekMall, Clay-

ton Lane, San Francisco and San Jose stores (the latter two now closed)

with a successful partnership dating back to the mid-1990s.

Dalton Davis, architect in charge of Atencio’s projects today, personally

Mary Kay

Sunset

Principal,

Semple

Brown

Design