We visited James O. Poag Jewellers earlier this spring to design our rings!…read more ...yes, THOSE rings! To be clear: no proposal yet! We both have family diamonds, and have discussed for years that it would be a wonderful idea to combine them and create the perfect custom engagement ring that also symbolizes our families coming together... awwwwwww... so now the time has come... :) Our appointment was with Mr. James O. Poag himself, and he was absolutely brilliant. It's his family business. He made us feel comfortable instantly, and spent about an hour with us as we did the whole design decision. We never for a moment felt rushed or pressure in any way. He was a very good listener to what we wanted, and was informative, upfront, funny and creative. It was an absolutely perfect experience! They even let our small dog come in (in a purse) so she didn't have to wait in the car alone the whole time (we drove in from Toronto). Just love that. We received a rendering of the ring designs within 2-3 weeks of our appointment. SO COOL! I am sharing those renderings so you know more about the custom design process - I had no idea! It makes it all that more exciting! The shop itself is in Strathroy, a quaint little town in southwestern Ontario. It is seriously adorable, which adds to the romance of the occasion for sure! Its interior is clean, the fantastic staff are informed, attentive and clearly interested in their careers in jewellery. I love passion. One of the reasons we loved this place when first deciding on where to go was that they do fingerprint engraving jewellery (http://www.poags.com/dimples.cfm), though we didn't end up choosing rings that suited this technique. We'll be back to create more custom work though! A second reason is that they buy gold. We brought in some old jewellery box finds to sell (didn't seem like much) and turns out we stared with an $850+ credit! Yay for the current gold market (and yay again for Poag's)! No wonder there are so many gold buyer commercials! Third: My in-laws-to-be gave us a $500 gift certificate here after researching area custom designers/gemologists/jewellers. Thank you, Macphees! Now that we have signed off on the design for all three rings (engagement, 2 x wedding bands), I have stepped out of the equation. I do know the rings were ready six weeks after our appointment (that milestone has passed), but I don't know when/where/how the proposal will happen! FUN! Will of course update this review at the next step of the journey! :) To summarize: So far, so good with our custom ring designs using family diamonds + one we purchased there! I have been extremely impressed and absolutely satisfied with every aspect of this business throughout the process. It came very highly recommended, and now I wouldn't hesitate to join the chorus. GO HERE!

Poag's has always been my parents go to jewellery store, so when I moved back to the area they were…read morewhere I went to have a ring designed with stones from rings I no longer wore. Let me say I was not disappointed at all!!! Jeff was amazing and is so talented! He kept me informed through the whole process of my ring being made with emails. I just picked my ring up and I am thrilled!!!! It turned out better than I could have wished for! The service and talent is well worth the visit no matter how far you need to travel! Poag's has my forever business just like my parents! Thank you so much Jeff for my one of a kind new purpose ring that I love!

I went to B & L 2 weeks ago to have a custom 3 diamond ring made with my own diamonds. It was ready…read morein 2 weeks and is beyond my expectations. It is absolutely beautiful and so well made. I will definitely refer people to this place. They are so nice and helpful. Thank you B & L for making my dream come to life!!

Absolutely personal and friendly service. Very reasonable prices, beautifully cleaned and…read morepolished. Diamond replacement and prong strengthened. Laura the owner was so nice. I will definitely go there again. Oh yes it took no time at all. Check out the web site.

From the owner: Our specialty is recreating your old gold to new. Sometimes you might have a piece from your…read moregrandparents that you want to redesign. We also have fast repair service. Selling gold and silver jewellery at affordable prices.

I took a gold coin there and the owner evaluated it at $480. I questioned why it was so low as I…read morehad weighed the coin before going there and knew what gold was trading for that day. The owner said it was because the coin had other materials in it and that he saw these coins all the time. I took the same coin to another pawn broker (in London) and received a quote of $755. The price of gold had only gone up $16 an ounce since the quote from Needful Things. Do the math, he not only tried to rip me off badly but also lied about it.

I wanted to buy a gold chain for a locket that I gave my wife. I checked prices at local stores and…read morethey were quite high. I went into Needfull things and the proprietor provided a decent selection of chains and I was able to afford a longer and thicker chain at considerable savings over the cost of shorter and thinner chains offered by competitors.

Went to the bumblebee class and I can't say enough good about it! Katherine the owner/teacher is so…read morelovely. She's so helpful and sweet and so cheery even while helping all of us who had no idea what we were doing! The studio is beautiful and displays so many amazing pieces Katherine has made. You can tell she's very talented and passionate about what she does, including teaching others about stained glass. There was 5 of us in the class. It was so relaxed and fun! We all worked and chatted and laughed at ourselves. I would recommend for anyone. I was a bit intimidated to try but Katherine makes you feel right at home. You have to try it. My bumblebee looked amazing. Thank you Katherine!!

My go to for any jeweler needs. I take my watches, bracelets…read moreand necklaces here. They have a thorough amount of experience. They are often busy which a telling sign of their fabulous work.

Do not use this jewellers as they lost my bracelet didn't admit until MONTHS…read morelater. I have called owner for resolution who has ghosted us. Disappointed Disgusted and in Disbelief Should not be in business

Was referred by some jewelers that could not fix my wife's watch. Went here and the people working…read morehere were very friendly and really knew their watches. Was able to fix it with a reasonable price. Highly recommend for watch repairs.

One of very few skilled watchmakers still around, a dying science and art. Great service, great…read moreuseful advice regarding valuable watches. Reasonable prices too.

Loved this place. It's a day adventure if you want to take your time!! So many interesting things…read moreto purchase that I've not seen at other antique malls. Regarding those who say it's not right to charge tax, I don't know of a single antique mall in southern Ontario where you get away with not paying tax. As a business owner, you are responsible for obtaining tax on goods or services sold. Pure and simple. If you're looking to not pay tax, flee markets, garage sales and the like would be the better avenue. Walking into any "business" you should expect to pay tax.

always love making the trip to go there. they have become friends and always greet us when we…read morearrive. it's a huge mixed bag of items. it's all about the search. sometimes i find something to buy other times not. it's a day out for us. if you don't like paying tax go and try to buy something on kijiji where you most likely try to lowball someone who already is offering a good price for value. maybe do some curb crawling . it probably suits you. we love woodstock flea market and will continue to buy and gladly pay tax.