Charles Medlock, 65, retired from a career in retail in 1998 to get in the jewelry business.

As the vice president of a retail business in Missouri similar to Target, Medlock said he learned the value of good customer service, and when he opened his first jewelry store, he began to understand how much jewelry means to people and how important it is to establish trust with customers.

When Medlock opened Crystal Bay Coin and Jewelers in Daphne in March, he and his business partner Patty Schrage knew treating customers right would be their biggest selling point.

“My feeling is, ever since I’ve been in this business, is that if you take care of folks and treat them like you want to be treated, they will take care of you, and they’ll treat you the same way,” Medlock said. “When that happens, you’re their jeweler, and they won’t go anywhere else. But you don’t take advantage of that.”

Medlock said he always takes a mental note when he goes into a business and feels like he has to coax the employees into helping him or answering his questions.

“We don’t make it hard for people to return things or make them feel like we’re doing them a favor,” he said. “No, we’re happy to exchange it or give them their money back. We’re just happy they came in in the first place. Customer service is a lost art in a way in retail today.”

Jewelry embodies memories and emotions that can be passed down from generation to generation, and Medlock said he does not take this lightly. Recently, a woman brought in a piece of jewelry and wanted to split up the diamonds to make pieces for her two granddaughters. Medlock worked with her to customize the pieces and make sure she was satisfied with the jewelry that would symbolize her love and legacy for her granddaughters.

“We can do those personal things,” Medlock said. “It’s that personal relationship we build between the customer and ourselves, and we can give that customer that great feeling. It’s like passing memories down from one generation to the next, and we’re preserving it for all of them.”

Being new in Baldwin County, Medlock said he is continually surprised at the kindness and friendliness of the people who live here.

“There are great folks here,” he said. “We’ve met a lot of nice people here. That’s a big part of what we do everyday — just meeting nice people, giving them quality service, quality repairs, giving them good customer service and making them feel like they don’t have to worry about what they’re leaving behind to have repaired.”

Medlock said he thinks Crystal Bay Coin and Jewelers provides the most complete coin and jewelry service in the county. As far as he knows, he provides more services in his store than any other jeweler nearby.

“All jewelry stores don’t do everything, but we do it all right here,” he said. “My hands or Patty’s hands or our bench jeweler’s hands are the only ones touching our customers’ belongings.”

In addition to custom and designer jewelry, jewelry repair and buying and selling diamonds and gemstones, Crystal Bay buys scrap gold, silver and platinum. They also buy and sell gold, silver, platinum and palladium investment bullion and are certified to appraise, buy and sell coin collections.

Medlock said Schrage’s expertise is essential, not only for making jewelry and serving customers, but especially in appraising estate jewelry collections and sterling silver.

“Without her, I couldn’t do it,” Medlock said.

Because of he and Schrage’s combined expertise, Medlock said he feels like he can provide Baldwin County residents with an old-fashioned jeweler experience.

“I think it’s like an old jeweler you used to go to, and he’d take care of everything,” he said. “It makes us a rounded jeweler.”

For more information and a complete list of Crystal Bay Coin and Jewelers’ services and products, visit www.crystalbayjewelers.com.