Samuel Gordon Jewelers

Published

23 years ago

April 1, 2002

INSTORE Staff Instore April 2002 Issue

Samuel Gordon Jewelers, Oklahoma, OK

OWNER: Samuel Gordon; FOUNDED: 1904; ADDRESS: 5521 North Penn Oklahoma 73112; PHONE: 405-842 3663; FAX: 405-842 3090; URL: samuelgordons.com

OKLAHOMA UBER-JEWELERS Samuel Gordon was founded by the man himself in 1904, and is now run by his grandson, Gary. The bizarre looking store takes the family’s hereditary love of gemstones to new heights…

What was the store before you moved into it?

It was originally a tyre store, and we brought it down to its shell, then started over. The renovation was over $1 million.

Who designed the store?

The architect was Rand Elliot, a local person who’s considered to be the most artistic architect in this part of the United States. He’s won awards with the design of the building. Our building is a theme project – all the windows are done in gemological shapes and the back of the building is a montage of pavilions of various gemstones and various shapes, emerald cuts primarily… one can see the bottom sides of topaz, sapphire and so on.

Please describe the inside of your store.

The chandelier in the main showroom is a huge collection of silk scarves, and their colors represent the various incandescent colors that are found in opal. My desk is shaped like a diamond, with the crown removed so that I have a very large flat surface to work on.

How does your store appeal to customers?

The showcases are very unique. They open from the customer side as well as the salesperson side. We use this feature very carefully, but when we use it we sell on the same side of the counter as the customer is on! This eliminates the ‘me against you’ dynamic that is the traditional position of where the customer is, compared to where the salesperson is.

PHOTO GALLERY (3 Images)

INSTORE Staff

Since launching in 2002, INSTORE has won 89 international journalism awards for its publication and website. Contact INSTORE's editors at editor@instoremag.com.

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