She allegedly tried a switcheroo.
A Florida jeweler says he was the victim of an attempted scam — but it was really more like a comedy of errors.
Vladislav “Bobby” Yampolsky of ECJ Luxe Collection in Boca Raton says a woman tried to trick him out of $6.7 million in diamonds, the Sun Seninel reports.
She agreed to buy a group of 11 pieces. He told the newspaper: “She brought her own materials, wrapped it herself with her own tape and tried to pull the switch because she had the identical package in her bag, pre-made.”
Following that and other suspicious behavior in the vault room, he locked her in the vault and contacted authorities. Forty-six-year-old Fatima Milanovic has been charged with organized fraud and grand theft.
Yampolsky said Milanovic’s entire scheme was woefully inept. At one point she even tried to shove the fake package up her skirt, he said.
Signet Expands in Ohio
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Signet Jewelers just got quite a bit bigger in Ohio. The company doubled the size of its “non-merchandise fulfillment center,” the Akron Beacon Journal reports. The 134,000-square-foot distribution center and warehouse handles store supplies such as jewelry boxes. Employment at the center will grow this year to 58 from the current 40.
He opened a very different kind of jewelry store
It’s a tough retail environment, and trying new things can pay off. The Santa Monica Daily Press reports on Avedis “Avo” Guerboian, who recently opened his store, called Edward Avedis, Atelier, inside the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, CA. He carries his own line plus some vintage pieces from Rolex and other brands, but the heart of it all is “a sitting area and a large screen where Avo uses computer software to design engagement rings for clients right in front of them,” according to the newspaper. His father, Eddie, who operated Readers Fine Jewelers, likes the concept. “There is still some romance,” he says.
Kiran Gems Spins Out 4 Units
The U.S. has four new jewelry companies — sort of. Surat, India-based Kiran Jewels Inc. announced as part of a restructuring, U.S.-based businesses Kiran Jewels Inc., Unique Design, SDIL and Prestige would no longer be part of the company. Kiran Export Hong Kong is also separating from Kiran Jewels. The companies will “continue to function as normal independent businesses in their respective geographies,” Kiran stated. The restructuring will “technically end all the relations between the above named companies and Kiran Gems Pvt. Ltd, which continues to be a De Beers GSS (International) Sightholder,” according to Kiran.
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