Inbox: June 2016

Published

8 years ago

May 17, 2016

Inbox: June 2016

LEARNING THE
INSTORE WAY — I hired a new young
lady to work in the
store. She had never
worked in the jewelry
business, so the first
thing I did was give her
a stack of INSTOREs
to read and find things
she liked and could
learn from. We will
work this way for
about a month more.
— Connie Thurmond,
Connie & V. Cross
Jewelers, Bossier
City, LA

AWESOME
COVERAGE

Just a quick note to thank
you for publishing something
so positive about our
industry (“50 Awesome
Things About Being a
Jeweler”; INSTORE, May
2016). I can’t remember the last time I read an article
from a trade publication
that reminded everyone
why this industry is
so special. Thank you!
— Gannon Brousseau, Vice
President, Couture, New
York, NY

This article originally appeared in the June 2016 edition of INSTORE.

THE MILLENNIAL
MYSTIQUE

Millennials: Never have
I been more proud to be
one year too old to be
lumped in with this group
of whiners. Well, you see,
touchy subject. There was
a fantastic report recently
on NPR (instr.us/61610) on
what really makes up the
millennial demographic
and it’s far different than
we think. The vast majority
haven’t graduated
college by 29 and most do
not live in cities.
— Casey
Gallant, Stephen Gallant
Jewelers, Orleans, MA

GRADING: MAKE IT
ONE OR NONE

I’m frustrated there are
so many diamond-grading
agencies, and they all give
diamonds different grades.
Even GIA is losing some
of its consistency. The industry needs to go to one
grading entity or get rid of
all of it. It is a pain for the
retailer and not fair to the
consumer.

— Emily and
Matthew Clark, Spath
Jewelers, Bartow, FL

WE, OF THE 99%

There are a lot of reports
about the number of closings,
but I think people are
not looking at the elephant
in the room. We have
been undergoing a major
change in income structure.
At least since 2008,
more money has been in
the hands of the 1 percent, while the majority of jewelry
customers have seen
stagnant earnings at best.
Meanwhile, the millennials
are the first generation
of Americans not to do
as well as their parents at
the same point in the life
cycle. Your average jewelry
store is not equipped
to sell to the 1 percent and
therefore we are seeing a
huge drop in the number
of jewelry stores, while
stores catering to high-income
earners are thriving.

— Alexander Rysman,
Romm Diamonds,
Brockton, MA

CLARIFICATION

A quote by Denise Oros of Linnea Jewelers in La Grange,
IL, on page 129 of May Do You or Don’t You implied she
unsuccessfully used the services of Porte Marketing to
reach out to corporate customers, when in fact Oros
acted independently on a suggestion in the agency’s
newsletter and did not use the company’s services.

Send your letter to INSTORE’s editors at editor@instoremag.com.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”