True Tales

I Was Feeling Down Until This 94-Year-Old Client Reminded Me Why We Do What We Do

She helped break this jeweler out of the blues.

Published

3 years ago

December 29, 2019

INSTORE Staff Instore January 2020 Issue

I Was Feeling Down Until This 94-Year-Old Client Reminded Me Why We Do What We Do

WINTER HERE IN the Midwest was brutal. Sales were way down. The news of more and more great stores and jewelry manufacturers closing was starting to weigh on me. Then last week, Lorraine walked in and wanted to design a ring. She had some gold and a 5 mm CZ that she had received for making purchases on a website. She just wanted a wide gold band with the CZ in the middle. She asked me how long it would take, then she told me she would be 94 the beginning of May, pointing out she didn’t know how much time she had left, so the sooner the better. She made me realize that I had forgotten to live forward and be in the moment. She was exactly what I needed to get out of the slump. Her ring was delivered within the week, and she was thrilled. — Jo Goralski, The Jewelry Mechanic, Oconomowoc, WI

Time for More “Me Time”? Time to Call Wilkerson

Rick White, owner of White’s & Co. Jewelry in Rogers, Ark., knew it was time to retire. Since the age of 18, jewelry had been his life. Now it was time to get that “me time” every retailer dreams about. So, he chose Wilkerson to manage his going-out-of-business sale. White says he’d done plenty of sales on his own, but this was different. “Wilkerson has been a very, very good experience. I’ve had the best salespeople in the history of jewelry,” he says. “I recommend Wilkerson because they are really the icon of the jewelry business and going-out-of-business sales. They’ve been doing it for decades. I just think they’re the best.”