What I’ve Learned: Jay Klos

Published

8 years ago

April 16, 2016

If you are not changing, you are losing ground!

— Jay Klos, Grogan’s, Florence, AL

Retail is in a constant state of change and to keep up you have to stay fresh. We first learned this when our customers began to come in asking if we carried the hottest new trends they saw at other stores and in magazines. Our team began traveling to trade shows and connecting with vendors and jewelers to bring us up to speed. Before that, we had just stuck to what we knew always worked. Now we are always researching our customers’ shopping behaviors, finding new ways of reaching out to them via social media, adopting new inventory-tracking methods, updating the store’s physical aesthetics (lighting, displays and décor), looking at new tools for the showroom and shop … the list is endless. Just when you think you’re on top of it, something new comes along and you have to learn a whole new process. We have learned not to fear change because we see it as an opportunity to embrace.

This article originally appeared in the May 2016 edition of INSTORE.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”