Fifth-generation family jewellers, Dipples is to open a showroom in Jarrolds Norwich next week, it has just been announced. Folk Features catches up with MD Chris Ellis to talk all things jewellery
Around the time Chris started a Saturday job at family firm Dipples in Norwich, he had ambitions to be an environmental scientist chasing twisters in Texas. Life had other plans for Chris, the Great-Great-Grandson of George Henry Dipple, who founded the jewellery business in 1878 in Woodford, Essex. George would go on to relocate the business to Ipswich in 1890, and then to Norwich around 1894, where the store has been located ever since – on Swan Lane. A second jewellery store in Dereham was opened by Chris’s father Rodney Ellis, in 1963.
Norwich-born Chris recalls: “When I was 14 my dad just asked me one day if I wanted a job on a Saturday, I was never forced into it – it was all through choice.” Chris, who grew up just outside Norwich, was a pupil at Bracondale at the time and, although he then started a course at City College, he didn’t finish: “I started working full time here then went to work in a shop in Preston for just over 6 months to do some training, then came back here and have been here ever since.”
That was around the year 2000. To start with, he says, “I was just working on the shop floor, doing sales and things – I helped quite a bit with the IT side of things. I became Assistant Manager a few years later and I think it was about 2015 I became Managing Director.” Nowadays, Chris runs the business with wife Rebecca. Father Rodney is now retired, but Chris still values his input. “It’s good to have that knowledge and insight.“
“I think there are various things that make Dipples special,” says Chris. “One, we actually care – we would advise someone to buy from a different shop if we didn’t have something that works for them. The other thing that makes us different to everyone else is the sheer breadth of stock and the range that we have.” Dipples has a comprehensive collection of jewellery from some of the UK and world’s leading jewellery manufacturers.
“I had a customer come in to see me once and she was looking for a sapphire ring. She’d been in Norwich all day and came into us about 4 o’clock and said, ‘I should’ve come here first because you’ve got more sapphire rings than all the other jewellers in Norwich put together’. We have sapphires in all colours of the rainbow,” Chris adds.
The market has changed over the years, says Chris, with more focus on watches and jewellery and less on collectible gifts. So, is jewellery is in his blood? “I think so. If you cut me, I’d bleed gold!” What does he love about jewellery? “Each piece is unique. Every stone is a slightly different cut, because a lot of them are still cut by hand. I like the colours you get, the sparkle in the stones; and I like finding the right piece for someone.” Chris practises what he preaches, “I wear a watch, wedding ring, signet ring, necklace and cufflinks – all from here.
“I’ve been selling jewellery for a long time and sometimes you can chat to someone, get a feel for what they want, and go and get that one item. Whereas some people have no idea, and you just start with everything and try and narrow it down – that’s the fun part. I’m very happy to be on the shop floor and it’s nice because every single piece that comes into the shop is basically all down to what I want to have here.”
In the late autumn of 2022, Dipples opened on Abbeygate Street in Bury St Edmunds, where a jeweller has stood for more than 270 years. “It’s been going very well,” says Chris of the latest showroom. “I love Bury and I generally spend one or two days a week there – I try to go to every shop each week.”
And the big news is that Dipples is opening a showroom in Jarrolds on May 12, 2026, which will feature leading jewellery and watch designers alongside the Dipples signature diamond collection. “It’s going to be really exciting – something really different for us,” says Chris. “Jarrolds is a well-known and respected store, and I like to think that we are as well. We’re both multi-generational – although they are slightly ahead of us because they are seventh generation! We’re both very much local firms. There are lots of things that are similar between the two businesses.”
In a couple of years, Dipples will be celebrating 150 years in business. “We have plans,” says Chris. “We will probably do a series of events and tie up with a charity.” A refurb in the Norwich showroom is also on the cards.
Does he ever feel the weight of responsibility being a fifth generation jeweller? “I don’t think about it – I’m a firm believer that although the past is there and you can learn from it. I look to the future because if you’re always looking back at what you did, you’re never actually going to change and grow.”
Chris may not have gone on to chase twisters, but he says: “Life has worked out well since – that’s the main thing.”
Dipples Jewellers has stores in Norwich, Dereham and Bury St Edmunds – and, as of May 12, 2026, a showroom in Jarrolds Department Store in Norwich.
Featured image of Chris Ellis, MD of Dipples Jewellers by Pagepix
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