Get Your Contest Entry in Great Shape

You won't get a slimmer waistline. But you may win one of the industry's biggest honors.

Published

5 years ago

January 1, 2021

INSTORE Staff

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So you think you’re pretty cool.

That is to say: You’re considering entering this year’s America’s Coolest Stores contest. That’s great news. The contest offers the jewelry industry’s preeminent opportunity to show off all the neat stuff you’ve done with your business. Winners are not only lauded as visionaries by their peers, but many also report benefits including a slimmer waistline, thicker and more luxurious hair and increased vigor and stamina. We also send you a free set of knives.*

And here’s the really great news: This year, we’re going to make it easier than ever to get your contest entry ready. This very blog post, which you are reading right now, kicks off a series of “training posts” you can follow along with to get your entry in tip-top shape.

Here are some things we’ll be covering:

How to write a great description of your store
Submitting photos that make your store shine
Deciding what’s “cool”

How not to lose all the information you’ve entered, so that you get frustrated and lose your temper and kick the wall and frighten your employees and have to re-enter everything.

We’ll also be here — or more specifically, I’ll be here, with help from my INSTORE overlords — to answer questions and help solve problems as you prep your entry. You should feel free to ask questions in the comments, or to email them directly to [email protected].

Two things to remember this week:

Enter at instoremag.com/acs
“Early Bird” entry deadline: March 1*
Final entry deadline: March 15, 2021

* Note: Entering before the “Early Bird” deadline allows you the option of having our editors review your entry prior to final judging, so we can provide guidance on where you can improve it. This could be a major advantage for you. See more details here.

All right! This is very exciting. Check back soon for the next post.

Next time: Eligibility, logging in, and not doing everything at the last minute

*OK, no knives, and we can’t guarantee the slimmer waist, fuller head of hair or increased vigor. But the top five winners in each of our two categories — Big Cool Stores and Small Cool Stores — do get a trophy and will be featured in the August issue of INSTORE.

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Honoring a Legacy: How Smith & Son Jewelers Exceeded Every Goal With Wilkerson

When Andrew Smith decided to close the Springfield, Massachusetts location of Smith & Son Jewelers, the decision came down to family. His father was retiring after 72 years in the business, and Andrew wanted to spend more time with his children and soon-to-arrive grandchildren. For this fourth-generation jeweler whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1918, closing the 107-year-old Springfield location required the right partner. Smith chose Wilkerson, and the experience exceeded expectations from start to finish. "Everything they told me was 100% true," Smith says. "The ease and use of all their tools was wonderful." The consultants' knowledge and expertise proved invaluable. Smith and his father set their own financial goal, but Wilkerson proposed three more ambitious targets. "We thought we would never make it," Smith explains. "We were dead wrong. We hit our first goal, second goal and third goal. It was amazing." Smith's recommendation is emphatic: "I would never be able to do what they did by myself."