Lana Jewelry Opens First Store in Chicago’s North Shore
CHICAGO — Lana’s first brick-and-mortar store is everything one might imagine from the celeb-favorite fine jewelry brand.
Decked out in shades of gold and marble with glitter-accented white walls, the gallery-like space spans 1,000 square feet, and is situated at 912 Green Bay Road in Winnetka’s Hubbard Woods neighborhood. Located in the storefront formerly occupied by Bella Bleu Bridal, Lana is in an area known for premier art galleries and high-end interior design stores.
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“I designed every inch of the store, from the floor to the walls,” said Lana Bramlette, designer and owner, about the flagship.
“Everywhere you turn I want there to be an ‘a-ha’ moment,” added Bramlette, who spent eight months designing and building the store, which will serve as the prototype for future units. “From the gorgeous mirrors, to the cases, to the beautiful product — the whole brand is about pretty, pretty, pretty.”
And it’s about an experience.
“Our music will always be pumping,” Bramlette said. “It’s going to feel like a party all the time. It’s light and airy and fun. Jewelry should be fun.”
Floor-to-ceiling windows provide plenty of natural light, while gold, velvet-lined jewelry cases center the store and line the walls. A soon-to-come white neon sign with the words “Just add skin” will hang on one wall.
The selling floor is divided into two rooms: the main salon, where the brand’s 14-karat gold and diamond jewelry collection is displayed, and a private vault room, or atelier, where customers can book one-on-one design consultations.
“You can sit at a beautiful table, have some coffee, look at the diamonds and sit down with myself and the design team,” Bramlette said.
The store will also host special intimate events, fine dining plus shopping experiences and piercing parties — a first for the brand. “We will cater, bring in chefs, we will do whatever it takes to wow the client,” Bramlette said. “We want this to be an event-driven space.”
The flagship will feature collections for men, kids, women and wedding, although the categories are more mix and match.
“Our jewelry is for everyone,” said Bramlette, whose jewelry is sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom. “You could wear our wedding collection daily, a man could wear our rings, earrings, necklaces and chains and a woman can mix some of the heavier chains into her repertoire. Why not?”
Walking past the jewelry cases, Bramlette points to the way they are merchandised, noting a $40,000 necklace next to a $900 cross. “This is your Madonna look,” Bramlette noted, referring to the artist and client. The brand’s celebrity roster also includes Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Lizzo, Cameron Diaz and more.
The collection ranges from $300 for a pair of 14-karat gold hoop earrings to fancy-cut diamond pieces fetching $300,000 and up.
Opening a retail store in Winnetka, Illinois, close to where she grew up, felt like coming home, Bramlette said. The call to the more peaceful and serene suburbs, following three years of pandemic living, was also a draw.
“Obviously real estate is exploding in all of the beautiful wealthy areas and Winnetka, being one of the wealthiest places in the country, felt right to bring a super luxe high-end store to my clients,” Bramlette said.
The Winnetka store will serve as the brand’s “lab, MBA school and learning area,” she said, adding “our store will kind of be an experiment, we get to try it out, see what works and let our national retailers go with what we figured out is a bestseller.”
The owner is already eyeing future store locations. Plans to open in the Middle East, where the brand has a strong following in Dubai, are in the cards, but for now, Bramlette is focused Stateside.
“We’re definitely eyeing the South next, we have a huge clientele across the country but the South, the West Coast and the Southeast are really big markets for us — places like Texas, Florida and California,” Bramlette said.
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