Review: CNBC’s Energetic New Series Streets Of Dreams With Marcus Lemonis Starts Big, Bold, And Bright With The New York Diamond District

It takes a lot of work to create the illusion of value out of a rock.

You might have seen Marcus on The Profit, The Partner, The Profit: An Inside Look (a lot of the’s there…) but his next venture takes a break from those definitive articles to walk viewers through what dreams may come from hard work and determination for both entrepreneurs and consumers alike. The first episode starts with a stroll through the wealthy Diamond District of NYC where an incredible 24 billion dollars in sales passed through the district last year alone, making a lot of businesses happy and in turn, presumably, making a lot of customers happy as well. However, the practice of buying and selling diamonds and how much cost the customer bears when they are the ones buying has always been shrouded in a veil of secrecy, with consumer questions and concerns about their shiny investments consistently being met with “you just have to trust me (the jeweler.) That is until now.

“How do I know if I’m getting a good deal?” Photo courtesy of CNBC.com

While Marcus isn’t exactly the first person to crack the code of why am I paying this much, he is the first to bring it to the masses with genuine enthusiasm, curiosity, and respect for the history of the trade all the while chipping away at the trust angle used emphatically by everyone in the business. If you’re a business owner buying from dealers say, at the Diamond Dealers Club, you need to trust them that you’re getting the best deal. If you’re a consumer buying a diamond from a jeweler, you need to trust that they are giving you the best deal but no one tells the average consumer why you’re paying what you are paying, and that’s where this rich guy comes to bat for you. Marcus finds the disrupters in the system who will not only tell you but show you why you are paying a said price and what you are paying for, all of which can be fact-checked on the spot, empowering and protecting both the consumer and local businesses who do not have the buying power of giants like Cartier and Tiffanys.

While the focus of the show is on Marcus and his quest for price point enlightenment, a lot of very human stories are blended in adding a lot of warmth to a business philosophy that can at times be very cold to broach. Stories of community building between differing ethnicities, stories of success, and stories that offer hope keep this series fresh, relatable, and feeling very much alive. Streets Of Dreams is noticeably in the same spirit as Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown thanks to both shows sharing the same Emmy award-winning producers but it goes beyond the framework of the series. Both entrepreneurs share the same love of people, culture, and the drive to help people succeed, something this series emanates from the very first episode.

Streets of Dreams premiers Tuesday, December 29th at 10:00pm ET/PT .

The First 10 Minutes: Marcus Explores The Diamond District | CNBC Prime can be seen here