These Customers Are Guilty of Moving Violations

Published

6 years ago

February 23, 2017

INSTORE Staff

We just closed a location we’ve had for 40-plus years to relocate to a brand new store. We had to shut down operations for five days. It took each day to load the safes, cases, inventory and all the decades of “collecting.” We had customers who literally stepped over the moving trucks’ loading inclines, walked past the “Closed” signage, and entered the chaos of our showroom floor. At this point, they couldn’t understand why we were not able to 1) replace watch batteries; 2) repair bent prongs; 3) appraise items bought elsewhere; 4) order watch crystals. It was difficult to nicely explain that the instruments and tools we needed were probably in that large truck that they just maneuvered around to enter. We maintained our good manners to acknowledge and engage these dear customers, but perhaps we should have had a parking lot attendant to run interference. Lessons learned: Some folks just don’t use common sense. — Wendy Smith, Jimmy Smith Jewelers, Decatur, AL

Time for More “Me Time”? Time to Call Wilkerson

Rick White, owner of White’s & Co. Jewelry in Rogers, Ark., knew it was time to retire. Since the age of 18, jewelry had been his life. Now it was time to get that “me time” every retailer dreams about. So, he chose Wilkerson to manage his going-out-of-business sale. White says he’d done plenty of sales on his own, but this was different. “Wilkerson has been a very, very good experience. I’ve had the best salespeople in the history of jewelry,” he says. “I recommend Wilkerson because they are really the icon of the jewelry business and going-out-of-business sales. They’ve been doing it for decades. I just think they’re the best.”