Santa Monica Jewelry Store Near Me for Designer and Vintage Pieces: Broken English

Broken English keeps its Los Angeles boutique at 225 26th St Ste. 17, Santa Monica, CA 90402, inside the Brentwood Country Mart, and the doors are open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. This jewelry store fits Loquet letter charms at $490, Pippa Small gold studs and a vintage case into one narrow room, and every in-store sale is final, so decide before you hand over a card.

Laura Freedman founded Broken English in 2006, and the brand's own About page traces her eye back to a split childhood: Las Vegas, where her mother was a showgirl, and Zion National Park, where she spent hours hunting arrowheads and geodes. Those two poles, glitter and raw stone, still explain the mix on the Santa Monica counters, where pave diamonds sit beside rough gems and antique pieces she hunts herself.

Freedman says she wanted a store that felt like an extension of her own home, and the first jewel-box boutique grew into a second shop on Crosby Street in New York plus a large online catalog. In a 2023 WWD interview she described curating the Santa Monica room as if buying for herself, hunting antique and vintage jewels while scouting new designers, and she called the shop a place families return to across generations.

The setting matters as much as the cases. The Brentwood Country Mart has been a Los Angeles institution since 1948, designed by architect Rowland Crawford as a board-and-batten marketplace with shops arranged around a central courtyard under a 1950s-era red barn. Broken English occupies one of those small stalls, so expect a compact room with glass counters rather than a showroom with sofas and private salons.

No booking system appears on the Broken English site; the store locator simply lists posted hours, which makes Suite 17 a walk-in shop. The space holds only a handful of shoppers at once, so on weekend afternoons, when the courtyard fills, you may wait behind someone trying on a stack of rings. Weekday mornings after the 10 am opening are the better window.

If you are planning a bigger purchase, such as an engagement ring or a Demeglio tennis bracelet, phone the store first and tell the staff which designer you want to see, since a room this small cannot keep every online piece on display. Sunday is the shortest day, closing at 5 pm, so a late Sunday arrival leaves little time to compare cases and lay pieces side by side.

For a first purchase, the Loquet charms are the easiest entry point. The Letter R Charm, crafted in 18K yellow gold with a 0.03 carat diamond, is listed at $490, and the brand notes that charms are sold individually with the locket and chain sold separately. That modular setup is the reason people linger at this counter, building a glass locket letter by letter and adding pieces over several visits or birthdays.

Under a thousand dollars, the store leans playful. Pippa Small's Shell Stud Earrings, 18K yellow gold set with shell and measuring about 9.35mm across, cost $940 a pair, and they echo her paua shell beachcomber pieces. At the far end of the price scale, Maggoosh's Gummy Studs in neon pink sell for $170, a gummy-bear shaped pair from a capsule inspired by New York street art and breakdancing.

Higher up the ladder, Broken English carries the house Demeglio, known for stretchy extensible gold. The Diamond Adjustable Bezel Pendant Necklace, 18K yellow gold with 0.35 carats of diamonds on a 28 inch length, is listed at $3,360, and it works as a daily layering piece rather than an evening statement. Ask to see it beside the extensible tennis bracelets, which slide on without a clasp.

Not everything here is worn. Broken English sells a home line and objects from Silvia Furmanovich, who works in wood marquetry and woven horsehair. Her Leopard Motif Marquetry Hand Mirror, roughly 11.88 by 6.13 inches, is listed at $920, and it makes a strong gift for someone who already owns too much jewelry. The marquetry boxes in zebra, snakeskin and crocodile motifs sit in the same category.

Time Out describes the shop's base as discerning Westside patrons, including people looking to pop the question, which matches the bridal and eternity band edits on the website. Freedman herself points to multi-generational families who keep coming back for milestone pieces. A third group is the gift shopper grabbing a Loquet charm between lunch at Farmshop and an errand at the Mart post office.

Read the refund policy before you fall for anything. Purchases made in the store are final, with no exchanges, refunds or returns, and gifts can only be exchanged for store credit within 7 days of the gift date. Online orders cannot be brought to Suite 17 for credit either. Skip this counter if you are unsure about a ring size, and skip it on a tight budget: Time Out warns that good taste carries a hefty price tag here.

Turn the visit into a slow courtyard loop. Start with a scoop at Sweet Rose Creamery in the Country Mart on 26th Street, then browse new fiction and art books at Diesel, a Bookstore, a few doors along the same courtyard. Both are steps from Broken English, so you can leave a piece on hold, think it over with a coffee from Caffe Luxxe, and walk back before the counter gets crowded again.

If Broken English is packed or the piece you came for has sold out, stay inside the Mart. Pippa Small Jewellery runs its own shop in the Country Mart on 26th Street, with far more of her gold and raw-stone designs than the Broken English edit. Capitol and Irene Neuwirth, also inside the Mart, offers a second designer room without moving the car.

Broken English sits at 225 26th St Ste. 17, Santa Monica, CA 90402, near San Vicente Boulevard on the Brentwood edge of Santa Monica. Store hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm.

The store does not publish a repair or resizing menu, so treat Suite 17 as a place to buy rather than to fix old pieces, although Country Mart Shoe Repair and a barbershop share the courtyard for other errands. Most visitors arrive by car from San Vicente Boulevard; ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for the quickest route and nearby parking before a busy Saturday trip to the Mart.