Jewelry Store To Open Shop

A new jewelry boutique called Tesoro will open on Bow Street next week—a sign of the stability of the Harvard Square business community despite the country’s recent financial challenges.

The new store, which will occupy the space adjacent to the original home of Quick Flix, will feature a selection of silver jewelry and accessories from exotic locations like Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela, according to store owner Jorge Luis Montana.

Montana, who has been planning to open the store for the past three years, said he hopes Tesoro will fill a niche in the jewelry market in Harvard Square by offering products “with a twist.”

“There are a lot of jewelry stores, but if I may say so, I don’t think I have found one that really captures my imagination,” said Montana, a native of Peru. “What I’m trying to offer is something very distinct and different from what everyone else has.”

“I’ve been in jewelry for a long, long time, but this is very innovative,” he added.

With prices starting at around $10, Tesoro will offer “a little bit of everything for everyone,” Montana said. In addition to jewelry, Tesoro will carry seasonal offerings such as sarongs as well as beachwear.

“The bathing suits will be from Brazil—not your conservative type of bathing suit,” he said. “Nobody else is going to have anything like them.”

Tesoro’s impending arrival in Harvard Square on April 23 comes in the wake of the March closure of Quick Flix, the area’s last movie rental store.

Though Quick Flix owner Michael Bradley said he was sad to see the store close, he wrote on the company’s Web site that “we all knew this was probably not going to be a sustainable business, but we put up a good fight.”

“Due to the direction of the industry, and growing trends of on demand/streaming we have been left with little choice but to recognize the sunset of our path,” Bradley wrote.

But Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said that Quick Flix’s closing is an exception to the larger trend of stability among businesses in the community.

Apart from Quick Flix, the Square has not recently experienced much turnover, and businesses that do close are usually replaced immediately, Jillison said.

“We are nearly 95 percent occupied here in the Square, and this rate has remained steady for the past decade, even during last year’s financially challenging times,” she added. “There are many examples of great retailers and restaurateurs with very successful business models.”