Our History
Our owner, Gary Sanchez, began his career in jewelry while in the Coast Guard in 1984. One day, while returning to his base in St. Petersburg, FL, he donned a gold necklace he had just purchased on shore. Gary sold that gold chain off of his neck. The men then began to talk about the fact that they liked jewelry, but hated shopping for it. Gary had a different experience. He actually enjoyed shopping for jewelry and finding the best prices. The crew began asking Gary to purchase for them, and that was the birth of his business. When his term ended, he re-evaluated his GI Bill and realized he didn’t have enough money for college. He took the $2,500, hired one employee, and opened a small kiosk in a local mall. With only search and rescue and Special Ops experience, the 22-year-old had no idea how to accept a credit card or pay sales tax. Lucky for him, there was a Vietnam veteran, Tom, with a kiosk a few feet away who taught Gary how to collect sales tax, process credit cards, and more. Tom and his family still shop with Gary.
After three weeks, Gary had thousands of dollars in deposits towards the sample jewelry he had in his kiosk. That was the beginning of a gold kiosk that stocked over 3,000 charms and 10,000 pieces. Gary’s high school sweetheart and wife, Cheryl, joined him and was responsible for the bookkeeping and accounting. She acts as CFO of Diamonds Direct today. Gary soon hired a 15-year-old high school student named David who regularly spent time at the mall with his friends. Gary approached the familiar face and asked if he wanted to make spending all that time at the mall worthwhile. He didn’t hesitate at Gary’s job offer. A friendship was born and David is now the COO of Diamonds Direct.
