To beat the bad guys we need to band together

AT A QUIET MOMENT moment in just about every buddy-cop movie ever made, one buddy looks at the other and says, ?You know, I got a really bad feeling about this …? Then, a few seconds later, all hell breaks loose. 

Anyway, going into this holiday season, I feel a lot like th

at apprehensive buddy. Because I look around and see a retail landscape that could be very tough for jewelers. Sure, soaring gas prices, plummeting home prices, etc. will have some effect. But the scariest thing of all is that there’s so-o much other great stuff out there to buy. So … I’ve got a really bad feeling about this. 

In this issue, we reference a study which states that most women would rather receive a big-screen plasma TV this holiday season than jewelry. And as much as we love the folks at Apple Computer, they’ve stolen a lot of food from your children’s plates with their infernal iPods.  

Electronics ? yep, they’re definitely the black-wearing, nunchuk-waving bad asses of the retail landscape.  

Anyway, this is all a prelude to a point I’ve tried to make in this space before. And that’s that jewelers have too many enemies out there to make enemies out of rival jewelers. And that the sharing of ideas is the best way for all jewelers to buy better, promote more effectively, and sell more. 

In this issue’s lead story on holiday promotions, we feature a number of those jewelers who love to share their very best ideas with INSTORE and with you. I thank them, and you should, too. 

Because with guys like these on our side, we just might see that happy ending after all. 

Wishing you the very best business …

David Squires  
Executive Editor and Associate Publisher  
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