(PRESS RELEASE) WATERVILLE, ME — On November 1st, 2021, Day’s Jewelers transferred ownership of its family-owned business to its employees. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) will benefit its 120 employees, making Day’s the only employee-owned and operated jewelry company in Maine and New Hampshire.
“Since my wife Kathy and I purchased Day’s in 1988, we have always set out to build a company that stands the test of time,” said Jeff Corey, VP of Marketing and Co-owner of Day’s Jewelers. “Becoming an ESOP and placing our future in the hands of our tremendous employees, will ensure the continued success of the company and culture we’ve built over the past several decades.”
Kathy Corey, Day’s co-owner goes on to say, “Since its founding in 1914, Day’s Jewelers has held the important core principle of providing the best value to our customers. When considering the future of the company, we weighed the options of selling to an outside buyer or selling to our employees. By converting the business to an ESOP, the future of the business would be kept in the hands of our employees, we could keep our current leadership, and the amazing Day’s family culture we have built.”
Day’s joins a number of other high-profile employee-owned companies in Maine, including Cianbro, Moody’s Collision, Clark Insurance, ReVision Energy, as well as Yankee Publishing, Inc., Cirtronics Corp., and Hypertherm in New Hampshire.
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."
