Acalanes High Grad Returns Home To Open Jewelry Shop

For Soo Kim, her store in Orinda is a bit of a homecoming.

Earlier this year, she and her business partner, Steve Kim, moved the Hello Tiara jewelry and accessory shop they'd had in San Francisco since 2006 to Orinda Theatre Square.

“We just thought the city wasn’t right for us,” said Soo Kim. “We love it here. It feels good to be back.”

Kim graduated from Acalanes High School in 2003. She attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco while working at stores that sold accessories for women.

“I just fell in love with accessories and jewelry,” she said.

After school, Kim joined up with Steve Kim, a U.C. Davis graduate, to open Hello Tiara.

Their Orinda store sells bracelets, necklaces, earrings, hair clips, headbands and combs, among other things. They also specialize in hair extensions, both synthetic and real.

They opened the Orinda shop seven months ago and had their official Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting several weeks ago.

Kim said business so far has been steadily increasing.