Taylor Made Designs

Taylor Made Designs has occupied its storefront on South 8th Street in downtown Opelika long enough to have become a multigenerational business, which is a rarer thing than it sounds along a strip that has seen plenty of shops come and go. Lynn Bradakis started the company in 1990, building custom photo frames in a spare bedroom before eventually expanding into jewelry design and opening a storefront, and the business is now run day to day by her daughter Taylor, who handles the shop and specializes in handmade jewelry and curated collections of her own.

The shop’s identity now centers on handcrafted jewelry and what it calls inspired gifts, pieces meant to mark specific occasions rather than generic accessories. That includes a line called TMD Originals, handcrafted collections designed in-house, alongside more everyday jewelry that swings between timeless and trend-driven depending on what is currently on the bench. Lynn continues creating artisanal pieces even as Taylor has taken over running the business, so the shop’s jewelry case reflects two overlapping design sensibilities rather than one, a founding generation’s eye alongside her daughter’s more current take on what customers are asking for. The company describes its own mission as crafting handcrafted jewelry, curating gifts and creating Opelika-inspired souvenirs to commemorate life’s meaningful moments, a line that doubles as a fair summary of what sits in the cases. The shop describes its jewelry selection as ranging from timeless classics to the latest trends and seasonal holiday pieces, which keeps regular customers checking back rather than assuming they have already seen the full case.

Beyond jewelry, the store stocks holiday-themed items and locally inspired Opelika souvenirs, gifts that lean into the town’s own identity rather than generic tourist merchandise, which makes it a natural stop for visitors who want to take home something specific to the place rather than a mass-produced keepsake. That local focus extends to how the shop talks about itself, framing its purpose around marking the meaningful moments of customers’ lives rather than simply moving merchandise. Seasonal turnover keeps the shop relevant year-round, from Christmas ornaments and gifts in the winter to lighter, more colorful pieces once spring arrives, and the store describes its gift offerings simply as thoughtful and stylish, a description that covers everything from a small Opelika keepsake to a piece meant for a wedding or graduation. Beyond the physical storefront, Taylor Made Designs sells directly through Facebook and Instagram, posting new collections there as they come in so followers can shop pieces before making the trip downtown, which has effectively turned the shop’s social media pages into a second, rotating showcase alongside the jewelry counter.

The shop keeps regular six-day hours, ten to five-thirty, Monday through Saturday, closed only on Sunday, which makes it an easy stop to fold into a broader afternoon in downtown Opelika. Its South 8th Street address sits within a few blocks of the district’s other boutiques, antique shops and galleries, part of the same historic core that Opelika Main Street has worked to grow and enhance since 1987, turning what were once rail-era commercial buildings into the walkable shopping strip Taylor Made Designs now occupies. The combination of a three-decade local history and a hands-on family ownership structure gives Taylor Made Designs a different feel than a typical gift shop, closer to a working jewelry studio that also happens to sell finished pieces off the shelf. That the business has stayed in the same family for two generations, from Lynn’s original spare-bedroom frame business to Taylor’s current run of the storefront, is unusual enough among small downtown retailers that it has become part of how the shop describes itself to new customers.