Tale End: Trend Setter

Published

14 years ago

November 29, 2010

Tale End: Trend Setter [dropcap cap=A]s we were dressing for a black-tie charity event one evening, we couldn’t find my husband’s bow tie. Crisis! Feeling creative, and struggling with his collar (and bad temper), I managed to substitute one of our pins — matte onyx and gold — instead. He grumbled, but finally wore it, and even enjoyed it. (“Told you so!”)[/dropcap]

Then I decided to perform a public service for America and start a trend to liberate all the beleaguered males from the horrors of the bow tie: I moved a number of our more geometric, understated, slow-moving ladies’ pins to the men’s case. They looked good there.

Sure enough, when the wife of one of our clients, a theater director, came in to buy him an anniversary gift, what do you think I immediately suggested? Yes, and she did buy him a nice fan-shaped onyx pin.

What I didn’t know at the time was that he had just won a Tony award, and soon enough, I had the pleasure of cutting out from my newspaper the picture of award-winning director Robert Hall’s nomination. Fastened to the collar of his dress shirt was a fan-shaped pin — my pin! I started a trend!

[h4]Eve J. Alfillé[/h4]
Eve J. Alfillé Gallery and Studio, Evanston, IL

Tale End: Trend Setter

[span class=note]This story is from the December 2010 edition of INSTORE[/span]

Looking for a Seamless Sale? Call Wilkerson

After almost 60 years in business, Breakiron Jewelers in Erie, Pennsylvania, was closing its doors. And the store’s owner, Linda Breakiron, was ready for it. She had run the store as its sole owner since the beginning of the millennium and was looking forward to a change. Of course, she called Wilkerson. Breakiron talked to other jewelers who had used Wilkerson and was satisfied with their response. “They always had positive feedback,” she recalls. With the sales, marketing and even additional inventory that Wilkerson provided, Breakiron insists she could never have accomplished her going-out-of-business sale without Wilkerson’s help. She’s now ready for the journey ahead, but looking back, she’d be sure to recommend Wilkerson. “They just made the whole process very seamless.”