• Send Us a Message
  • WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

    Above is a photo taken in the 1950s on Broadway, the main street in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  The city is across from the Missouri River and Omaha Nebraska. This was our family’s first pawn and jewelry shop called Brown’s Loans originally erected in 1912 by Nellie Brown. The shop was taken over by her two son’s, George and Melvin, in the late ‘40s. While Melvin ran the shop, he also mentored and taught his only son, Steve, the pawn and jewelry business ever since he could walk and up into his late 20s.

    Steve did not immediately take over the family business. He initially wanted to exercise his own entrepreneurial instincts with his personal business interests. The fair-minded business ethics and spirit he learned from his father allowed him to become successful in the retail music business with Brown’s Music which, for a time, was the largest retail music store in the Midwest. This was followed by the breeding, training and racing of thoroughbred race horses, a passion he shared and developed with his wife. Again, this knowledge was passed down from his father and the profession ultimately led Steve down south to Shreveport, Louisiana with his wife and three children, Elizabeth, Jordan and Nicholas, in the late ‘80s. Steve, being the 3rd generation in the family to learn the pawn and jewelry trade, always felt that his appreciation and passion for the art of jewelry never escaped him and wanted to apply everything he had learned on his own into his version of the family business. He patiently built the business which began selling fine jewelry on the internet in 2000.

    OUR SHOP TODAY

    Steve decided to focus mainly on the sale of fine jewelry and rare collectibles in his rendition of the original business. He also believed that the name of the business should evoke a special feeling, idea and dream rather than behold a family name, and what better phrase is there to remind someone of their fondest dreams than ‘Once Upon A Diamond’.

    In 2008, he opened the brick and mortar store in Drexel Plaza in Shreveport. Steve's daughter, Elizabeth, worked at the store for a time until she left the business to become a successful Veterinarian. In 2010, his two sons, Nicholas and Jordan, graduated from Architecture school and decided that they would take the technical design skills they learned in college and apply them to the family business. Their knowledge in architecture provided them with a solid foundation in the history of design periods, conceptual design, computer systems and compositional layout. They simply approached jewelry as small scale architecture yet quickly realized that it is anything but small in both design and industry. They are now actively pursuing their GIA Graduate Gemologist certifications. Five years later, Steve and his two sons renovated an over 50 year old building, just around the corner from where they were, into what it is today and pictured above. This is truly our home away from home and we certainly treat you like guests in our home.

    SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, USA

    Shreveport has been a terrific place to call home as the city is as rich in culture as the people are with friendliness. We’re only 3 hours East of Dallas and 5 hours North of New Orleans located in a beautiful melting pot of what the maps call the Ark-La-Tex. So if you’re visiting us and looking for fun things to do, you won’t have to look too far. There’s the Louisiana Boardwalk which is the largest outlet mall in Louisiana and is just a hop across the river from all of the casinos and downtown nightlife. It’s a beautiful city to explore with great food, fun people and we hope to see you soon.

    FUN THINGS TO DO IN SHREVEPORT


    Leave a message

    Have a question about our store? Send us a message and we'll get right back to you.



    Did you know that Shreveport was briefly once the Capital of Louisiana during the Civil War?