Miles Jermy THE gleam may have vanished from the economy, but some sparkle has been added to one of the town's best-known businesses.Great Yarmouth jewellers Cox and Son this week celebrated completing a shining refit of its Northgate Street shop.

Miles Jermy

THE gleam may have vanished from the economy, but some sparkle has been added to one of the town's best-known businesses.

Great Yarmouth jewellers Cox and Son this week celebrated completing a shining refit of its Northgate Street shop.

The striking transformation has bought a dash of West End glitz to the shop which the Cox family opened way back in 1875.

Over the years generations of happy couples have purchased jewellery from the shop to mark engagements, weddings and anniversaries.

Now customers can shop in style following the refurbishment of the premises that has doubled in size.

Despite the downturn the town is still a great place to do business, according to Michael Cox, who is the fourth generation of the family to work at the jewellers.

Mr Cox has masterminded the revamp of the Georgian era building, which has been 18 months in the planning.

The interior and shop front were designed by a specialist jewellery shop fitting company and a number of local contractors carried out the work.

“The last refit was in the 1970s and the shop was starting to look at bit dated. I think this is fabulously striking and it has taken us firmly into the 21st century,” said Mr Cox.

“We wanted a contemporary feel while not detracting from the historical character of the building.

“Great Yarmouth, as the name suggests, is a great place to do business. We are able to attract customers from all over the country - this represents a vote of confidence in the town.

“Everyone is affected by the recession, but people still like to mark special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and engagements. This will be good for the business, I am an optimist and very excited about the future.”

Cox's employ more than 20 staff at shops in Northgate Street and Market Row, several of whom have many years' experience with the business.

Mr Cox, 36, has been working for the company, where several of his family members are directors, for the last 19 years.

He said: “We know a lot of our customers well - jewellery is a very personal item, it is something you need to see, feel and experience to make the choice what to buy.

“It was important to maintain a friendly open door policy - a lot of jewellers have burly security guards on the door that was not something we wanted to do.”

After overseeing the transformation of the store, Mr Cox was looking forward to some time off before starting his next venture developing a website for the business.