Editor's Note

Now Introducing The INSTORE Show, Coming to the Chicago Area in 2023!

Some cool educational and networking concepts will make this a next-level trade show.

Published

9 months ago

July 5, 2022

Trace Shelton Instore July 2022 Issue

I HAVE SOMETHING TO announce that I’m totally psyched about: INSTORE will be back in the Chicago area in 2023!

That’s right, the newly rebranded INSTORE Show will take place at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont on Aug. 12-15 of next year.

Since the last iteration of The SMART Jewelry Show in 2016, we’ve had readers imploring us to bring it back. But we wanted to make sure that when we did, we did it exactly the way you would want it. So we asked our Brain Squad, and you told us you preferred August. You also told us that you still prefer the Chicago area, and we’ve located the show in Rosemont because it’s closer to the airport and easier for locals to reach by car.

One thing that won’t change is the quality of educational programming. Our editorial team is carefully crafting a set of sessions that will address the most important issues facing jewelry retailers today — and we’ve placed a premium on panels, so that you can draw on the best practices of your fellow retailers.

We’ve got some new ideas we’ll bring to bear, including a limited-seating intensive workshop with the industry’s top consultants (who also happen to be INSTORE columnists).

Obviously, we still have a lot of details to work out. But you can be the first to hear all the latest developments by visiting theinstoreshow.com and signing up to be an INSTORE Show Insider. More details to come in the months ahead!

Now Introducing The INSTORE Show, Coming to the Chicago Area in 2023!

Trace Shelton

Editor-in-Chief, INSTORE
[email protected]

Five Smart Tips You’ll Find in This Issue

Sign you or your employees up for a course that teaches you how to take better product and social media pictures with your smartphone. (Manager’s To-Do, p. 22)
To integrate humor into your conversations, use personal stories where life threw you a banana peel. (The Big Story, p. 30)
Come up with three things you wish every prospect knew about your business and use them to inform all of your marketing. (Benchmarks, p. 44)
Regularly ask your employees, “What one thing can I do to make it easier for you to do your jobs?” (Ask INSTORE, p. 54)
Hire a local high school student as a polisher; you can later train them as a jeweler if they show interest. (David Geller, p. 48)

Time to Do What You've Always Wanted? Time to Call Wilkerson.

It was time. Teri Allen and her brother, Nick Pavlich, Jr., had been at the helm of Dearborn Jewelers of Plymouth in Plymouth, Mich., for decades. Their father, Nick Pavlich, Sr., had founded the store in 1950, but after so many wonderful years helping families around Michigan celebrate their most important moments, it was time to get some “moments” of their own. Teri says Wilkerson was the logical choice to run their retirement sale. “They’re the only company that specializes in closing jewelry stores,” she says. During the sale, Teri says a highlight was seeing so many generations of customers who wanted to buy “that one last piece of jewelry from us.” Would she recommend Wilkerson? Absolutely. “There is no way that I would have been able to do this by myself.”