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TIMELESS AND TREASURED. Most of my clients come to me with their own ideas for rings, but my source of inspiration is helping refine them into something that is timeless. I try to remind people that they are buying something that they, or the person they’re buying for, is going to wear for a very long time. The rings that I have designed for our case are timeless, not too busy, and the focus is on the actual diamond.
SHOWING RESPECT. I wanted to create a transparent experience. That’s why people come to us. The secret to selling diamonds to millennials is educating them. I think they find you are respecting them when you give them that information rather than just selling them something because it’s pretty. And it’s about respecting their budget. A lot of my friends say retailers show them things that are $5,000 or $10,000 over what they said they want to spend.
ALTERNATIVE BRIDAL. I do sell salt and pepper diamonds. Not every day, most clients are coming to me for fine diamonds. Most people have been buying them through the Internet, but I bought them because people want to come in and see them. I sell them ridiculously cheap.
FOOL-PROOF PLANNING. Most guys don’t try to do it on their own. They either come in together as couples or the girls send me all the information ahead of time, I keep it in a file, and when the guy comes in, I pull out the file and he can’t mess that up. I imagine that is completely different from how it was done 15, or even 10 years ago.
Family Legacy, New Chapter: How Wilkerson Turns 89 Years of History Into Future Success
After 89 years of serving the Albany community, Harold Finkle Your Jeweler faced a pivotal decision. For third-generation owner Justin Finkle, the demanding hours of running a small business were taking precious time away from his young family. "After 23 years, I decided this was the time for me," Finkle explains. But closing a business with nearly nine decades of inventory and customer relationships isn't something easily managed alone.
Wilkerson's comprehensive approach transformed this challenging transition into a remarkable success story. Their strategic planning handled everything from advertising and social media to inventory management and staffing — elements that would overwhelm most jewelers attempting to navigate a closing sale independently.
The results speak volumes. "Wilkerson gave us three different tiers of potential goals," Finkle notes. "We've reached that third tier, that highest goal already, and we still have two weeks left of the sale." The partnership didn't just meet financial objectives—it exceeded them ahead of schedule.
