The company manufactures its engagement rings

The company has signed leases for premises in the Trinity Leeds and Monument Mall in Newcastle with both sites expected to be up and running in October.

That adds to its stores in current Glasgow's Argyll Arcade, Silverburn, Braehead, Aberdeen's Union Square and at the Assembly Rooms on George Street in Edinburgh.

Its central distribution hub which services all its locations is also in Glasgow.

Around 20 jobs will be created across the new sites with the Leeds shop also the first to feature only the company's Rox branded jewellery and designs.

Managing director and co-founder Kyron Keogh, who is jetting out to a jewellery trade fair in Hong Kong this week, said the business would typically only open one store a year but both sites were too good to turn down.

He said: "We have had our eye on getting down south for quite some time but you need to find the right location.

"We have built a business that is scalable and the plan is to keep adding stores to it.

"It is a pretty good tenants market at the moment and we were able to strike some pretty good deals to help with our expansion."

Both stores will have a champagne bar but the Newcastle outlet is almost double the size of Leeds at 3000 square feet.

The north east of England shop will be across two levels and feature a private lounge similar to its so-called thrill rooms in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Glasgow based Graven Images, which worked on the Rox shops in Edinburgh and Argyll Arcade, has won the contract to do the interior design.

Mr Keogh said the business had received good support from its bankers HSBC and indicated the launch of a Rox only brand store could make it easier to roll out further sites across England.

Mr Keogh also hopes the venture will aid in the development of Rox as a luxury brand in its own right.

He said: "We have been given the confidence over the last year as we have seen our own brand really take off and we believe the next step is to try a store.

"If we can have Rox only stores then [for example] we could open in Manchester Trafford centre without having to get the support of the brands that are already located there.

"Stock investment is also lower as well and the return on investment is actually much higher."

The company manufactures its engagement rings in the UK with all the design work on its jewellery collections being done here.

Mr Keogh said Rox has been working with a number of designers in the past two years who have had experience with upmarket firms such as Boodles and Asprey.

The Rox brand silver is said to be outselling lines by brands such as Thomas Sabo and Links of London.

The business began manufacturing some of its ranges in Scotland earlier this year and Mr Keogh is keen for Rox to eventually have its own in-house designer but admitted finding the right person has so far been difficult.

He said: "We have put the word out that we are looking for someone but so many people in our industry end up in London."

Mr Keogh believes the move into England is also likely to give a boost to online sales.

He added: "We have full Scottish coverage and strong multi-channel coverage.

"To keep growing we hope to take market share and by moving down to Leeds and Newcastle we hope we can merge our online and retail activities like we have in Scotland.

"For jewellery people do like to handle it so I think you need to have visibility on the high street and project the right image."
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