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Inside look at Pearl & The Beast
A new shop in SoHo called "Pearl & The Beast" is shucking mussels and making jewelry out of pearls. FOX 5 NY's Christal Young has the story.
NEW YORK CITY - A new jewelry store in SoHo is letting its customers fish for their pearls.
The store is called "Pearl & The Beast", located on Howard Street in SoHo.
Once you walk downstairs, a pearl wonderland awaits, and you get to design your own jewelry!
Pearl & The Beast lets you choose your own mussel, chuck it open, and extract the pearls.
The business was created by Krystal Chen, who came up with the idea at 23-years-old.
Chen owns the first and only mussel shop in the country, working with two local mussel farms.
She gets mussels delivered at least once a week.
One fresh catch of the day is $70-$80 per mussel, depending on what the type is.
Mussel types:
Classic: The most popular type. It has 15 to 30 pearls.
Edison: One giant pearl, usually used for a big necklace.
Weirdo: Lives up to its name and has one to 9 pearls.
If you happen to get a mussel that washes up empty, you can pick another, or you'll get 15 pearls free of charge. Even though there is a sign that says:
"Opening a mussel is like the lottery, once the mussel has been opened, no refund or exchange unless there is no pearl found."
Here are the earrings that FOX 5 NY's Christal Young made:
To learn more about Pearl & The Beast click here.