Pearl & the Beast is a unique shop located in Soho that offers customers the opportunity to go fishing for mussels and extract pearls themselves to create custom jewelry. Founded by 23-year-old Krystal Chen, the store is the first and only of its kind in the United States. Shoppers can select a large mussel from the tanks based on the type of pearls they contain, such as baroque, weirdo, Edison, and classic. The prices for a mussel range from $70 to $80, making DIY pearl accessories an affordable option for jewelry lovers.
The store’s popularity is evident in its sales, with weekends seeing about 100 mussels sold each day and weekdays seeing around 20 mussels. The pearl extraction process involves customers cracking open the mussel, searching through its interior to find the pearls, and then cleaning them to enhance their natural luster. The store staff assists customers in this process and helps them create custom sterling silver jewelry incorporating their pearl findings. Customers are also given any extra gems they discover in their mussels to take home and use for additional accessories.
Finding pearls in mussels is a rare occurrence, with about one in 5,000 mussels containing pearls. The cleaning process involves dunking the pearls into a solution to remove bacteria and mussel residue. Once the pearls are cleaned and polished, customers can choose from a variety of jewelry options, including earrings, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, pendants, hairpins, and rings, with prices ranging from $20 to $80. Any pearls not used in jewelry are given to customers to take home, where they can use them for other creative projects.
Chen sources her shellfish from a freshwater pearl farm that delivers mussels directly to her store. She distinguishes her business from other shops that offer oysters with pearls by providing customers with a genuine pearl extraction experience. Chen noted that some oyster companies engage in deceptive practices by replacing original sea pearls with mussel pearls and gluing the shell shut before selling them to customers, a practice that does not occur at Pearl & the Beast. The name of the store was inspired by Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” with the mussel being referred to as the beast that produces the beautiful pearls.
Pearl & the Beast offers a unique and authentic experience for customers looking to create their own pearl jewelry. The store’s innovative approach to pearl extraction from mussels sets it apart from other shops that may engage in deceptive practices with oysters. Customers can enjoy a hands-on experience of finding and extracting pearls from mussels, creating custom jewelry pieces, and utilizing any extra pearls for additional projects. With affordable prices and a wide selection of jewelry options, Pearl & the Beast provides a one-of-a-kind shopping experience for pearl enthusiasts in Soho.
