A California jewelry brand is looking to plant its flag on a recognizable commercial corridor in Old Town Alexandria. Gorjana has filed paperwork to open a store at 726 King Street, a small commercial building.
According to ALXnow, Gorjana has asked Alexandria's Board of Architectural Review to approve a certificate of appropriateness for the property, with the board set to consider the application on October 21. As part of that filing, the company is seeking permission to remove tile at the front entrance, install new metal storefront frames, add a new canopy, and put up a business sign.
The 870-square-foot property has seen its share of turnover. It was previously home to Nicecream, the liquid-nitrogen ice cream shop that closed in 2021, the same site the report notes Gorjana is now eyeing.
Another King Street Business
Falafel Inc. operated at nearby 724 King Street in 2022, per the same ALXnow report.
Property records reviewed by Compass describe 726 King Street as a two-story miscellaneous commercial building with 1,755 finished square feet sitting on that 870-square-foot lot. The building dates back to 1900 and was renovated in 2005.
From an Apartment Floor in Laguna Beach to a Nationwide Chain
Gorjana is described in the ALXnow report as a California-based jewelry store with more than 130 locations across the country, with the nearest existing stores in Tysons Corner, Washington, D.C., and Bethesda, Maryland. The brand's own origin story is considerably smaller in scale. Jason and Gorjana Reidel founded the company in 2004, and according to Gorjana's own account, the couple founded the brand on their apartment floor in Laguna Beach, California.
The Reidels later opened Gorjana's first brick-and-mortar location in 2016, about a mile from their original studio on the corner of Ocean and Beach in downtown Laguna. Since then, the company says it has continued opening retail stores nationwide to meet customers where they are.
A Growing East Coast Footprint
An Old Town location would add to a growing East Coast presence for the brand. Gorjana opened its third Philadelphia-area store at King of Prussia Mall in February 2025, according to Montco.Today, joining existing stores on Walnut Street in Philadelphia and in Ardmore's Suburban Square. That King of Prussia store was described as the brand's 96th location in the country and offers in-store stylists to help shoppers put together layered jewelry looks.
Gorjana also sells through its own site, which offers online ordering with in-store pickup at its locations. Whether a King Street store would carry the same stylist services seen at the King of Prussia location has not been detailed in the filing described by ALXnow.
