New Orleans is not where we started. It’s who we are.
Anne and Michael Dale are New Orleans, through and through — the culture, the history, the way this city teaches you that craft and relationships matter more than square footage. Long before Anne Dale Jewelers had a showroom, it had roots — deep ones, in families who’ve called the greater New Orleans area home for generations.
The bench comes first
The business itself started in 1983 in Kenner, as a wholesale jewelry repair shop trusted by stores across Greater New Orleans to do the work right, quietly, behind the scenes. In 1987 it moved to LaPlace. Then in 1989, when the oil and banking crisis closed Wilson Jewelers — once the largest jewelry catalog showroom in the country — the business stepped forward into its own storefront for the first time: Dale Jewelers.
While that was happening, Anne was carrying the family name even further — literally around the world. As Director of Gem-A USA, a role created for her by the Gemological Association of Great Britain, she spent those years presenting at international trade shows and helping establish gemological education programs. It’s the reason a small Louisiana jeweler has sourcing relationships and industry access that stores many times our size simply don’t have.
Choosing Mandeville, staying New Orleans
By 1999, Anne and Michael were raising three young children and made the choice so many families made in that era — crossing the lake for St. Tammany’s schools and room to grow. The business became Anne Dale Jewelers, opening on Saint Drive in Mandeville. The address changed, but the values that built the business in Kenner and LaPlace came with us — the same hands-on craftsmanship, the same belief that relationships matter more than square footage. Mandeville became home. New Orleans stayed in our blood.
Home today
In 2022, we moved into our current home at 829 Asbury Drive — a larger space that let us grow our engagement ring gallery while staying exactly where our customers know to find us.
Forty years later, the roots still show
Every ring, repair, and appraisal that comes through our doors carries that same New Orleans standard — direct relationships, real craftsmanship, no corporate shortcuts. That’s not a brand story. It’s just how the people who raised us did business, and how we still do it.
Curious what that looks like in practice? Read about Why Anne Dale Jewelers or start your own Engagement Ring Experience.
Want the deeper story — Anne’s gemological credentials, industry recognition, and career? Meet Anne & Michael →