Our Story
4 Generations of Jewelers
​In 1906, Lisa’s great-grandfather Louis Novin opened Novin Jewelry on Elm Street, a prime location in Dallas. Within a few years, Lisa’s Papa Lou moved the business closer to downtown. The store expanded, moving twice in downtown, settling at Commerce Street in the 1990s.
During the Depression, Lisa’s grandfather Ralph Novin was in SMU Law School while working at the store part-time. Here he met Roz Schall, who was in town from New York. Roz’ father had taken a bath wearing his watch. Roz purchased a watch which the Harris family holds dear today. Ralph was smitten with Roz!
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The couple married and had two children, Harold and Betsy. Ralph passed away in 2000 and the family’s matriarch, Roz, moved to a senior community known today as The Emerson.​​​
Harold & his father, Ralph Novin at their store in downtown Dallas.
The pivotal moment came when Lisa’s father, Harold, was visiting Roz at Treemont (now The Emerson) and found her socializing at a table of residents needing jewelry repair. Harold’s tool kit wasn’t on him, but he approached The Treemont’s management about providing a useful service for their residents on-site, to which the management team agreed. Harold returned to the senior community a few days later with tools for repairing jewelry at the residents’ convenience.
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Neighboring communities including Edgemere, The Forum, CC Young and others heard about the repair service and requested that Harold provide them with the same.
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By 2006, a century since Louis Novin opened the shop on Elm Street, that business community was in financial jeopardy, but the jewelry repair business was thriving. Harold and Lorraine, Lisa's stepmother, invited Lisa and Toby to provide jewelry repair services to additional senior communities.​
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Toby had a long career as an optician, but he always had a passion for making jewelry and working with metals. Lisa was the director of lifestyles at The Legacy Willow Bend. They were busy with their day jobs, and had little time for jewelry repairs. They somehow made it work, and moved forward with providing jewelry repair services to independent living communities in Collin County, including Plano. Harold and Lorraine continued serving residents in Dallas County.​
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In 2020, the world stopped due to COVID-19 and so did the jewelry repair business. In January 2021, Harold and Lorraine retired. Lisa and Toby left their professions to continue growing the family jewelry repair business full-time.
​In 2024, Harold passed away. His legacy lives on and he is dearly missed by friends and family. Lisa & Toby are proud to carry on the family jewelry repair tradition!
Today, Harris Jewelry Repair has expanded the business perimeter to include over 35 retirement communities spanning from Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, McKinney & Aubrey areas.​​ They expect to include 4 more new communities the later of 2025!
