Just in time for the holidays, Carole and Michael Ridding have opened their unique new Silverhorn store on Montecito’s Coast Village Road. “We feel it is important to constantly reinvent ourselves to reinvigorate the business and keep it fresh, exciting and interesting, not only for ourselves but also for our customers,” she says. 
The new Silverhorn is located at 1235 Coast Village Road. 
Silverhorn designer Noel Bendle has been with the company for 15 years. 
An exquisite bird carving is among the unique items featured at Silverhorn. 
Silverhorn’s designers have created an exclusive accent dining table crafted from gemstones and petrified wood from Arizona.
After more than a year of construction — including being waylaid by Montecito’s twin disasters — Carole and Michael Ridding have reopened their venerable jewelry store, Silverhorn, at a new Coast Village Road location.
A fixture in the Montecito community for more than three decades, the couple made the decision last year to downsize their business. They closed their old store at 1155 Coast Village Road in November 2017, but kept the recently expanded boutique inside the lobby of the Four Seasons Resort-The Biltmore Santa Barbara.
And then disasters struck — first the Thomas Fire last December, followed by the deadly Jan. 9 flash flooding and debris flows. Not only was Coast Village Road inaccessible for weeks each time, the Biltmore was closed for months after much of the hotel and its lush grounds were buried by mud. The Biltmore — and the Silverhorn boutique — finally reopened in June.
The new Silverhorn, at 1235 Coast Village Road, opened last week, and it is an exciting addition to the 93108.
The 1,100-square-foot space was designed by Los Angeles architect Andreas Gritschke, built out by Lompoc contractor Scott Santori and boasts the latest in electrical technology by lighting designer Rob Jenneve of Synergy Lighting Design.
The most notable feature of the open floor plan is the design studio, which was out of sight at the old store. Now, talented designers and goldsmiths Noel Bendle (15 years) Darby Farmer (10 years) can be seen working in a large glassed-in space that gives clients a personal experience.
Silverhorn also is presenting an “open-sell” concept, in which a selection of inventory is accessible to clients in unlocked, self-closing drawers, giving them a unique opportunity to discover one-of-a-kind gemstones. And the store’s designers have created an exclusive accent dining table crafted from gemstones and petrified wood from Arizona.
“Traditional retail as we have known it is rapidly changing, and change is always challenging,” Carole Ridding told Noozhawk. “We were looking for a new concept that would improve the customer experience, something that would engage them, and we think we have found it!
“We feel it is important to constantly reinvent ourselves to reinvigorate the business and keep it fresh, exciting and interesting, not only for ourselves but also for our customers.”
— Judy Foreman is a Noozhawk columnist and longtime local writer and lifestyles observer. She can be contacted at news@noozhawk.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.