“We did it together,” she says. There was some nervous laughter when more than 100 boxes arrived at CD Peacock’s Oakbrook location and employees formed teams to spend the day assembling bicycles.

“Everyone was excited,” Holtzman Lawrence says. “I think they were intimidated at first, seeing the shipment of all these bike pieces.

“I don’t think anyone was familiar with building bikes,” she says. “I’ve never assembled a bike before. I can barely ride a bike! What was most surprising was how many people were complete naturals at it and very fast. The president of our company, Olivier Stip, was so fast, it was incredible. He started knocking out the bikes very quickly.”

The company joined with Foster Love, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving children’s lives in the foster-care system. CD Peacock allocated a portion of their sales proceeds to purchase kits to build the bicycles. Owning a bicycle can help young kids develop confidence while having fun, and serve as a mode of personal transportation for teens. The bikes are different sizes to accommodate different ages of kids. “They provide such autonomy and freedom,” says Holtzman Lawrence.

Everyone felt a sense of accomplishment once the bikes began to take shape. And it was fun, too: CD Peacock made it a party with music and pizza.

The team also participated in Foster Love’s Sweet Cases initiative by decorating and filling duffel bags for foster kids. Often, during a move, children in the foster system have only a trash bag to carry their stuff, making them feel disposable during one of the most difficult moments in their lives. Having their own du el bags filled with teddy bears, blankets, crayons, hygiene kits and other comfort items can make these transitions a little less scary.

At the end of that day, the CD Peacock team was ready to donate 50 bicycles and 130 custom duffel bags to Chicago foster care centers.

Although there was no marketing blitz around the project, the team did share information about the program with their clients. “We could say that a part of their purchases was being used for this and that they helped do this with us,” Holtzman Lawrence says. “It was a great unifier between the clients, the team and the kids.”

As a generational business, it’s important for CD Peacock, established in 1837, to support the next generation of Chicago. Holtzman Lawrence works with her dad, Steve Holtzman, vice-chairman, and her grandfather, Seymour Holtzman, chairman and owner of the company, who acquired the business in the 1990s.

CD Peacock is involved in the community in many different ways, including with direct donations. But this activity was an opportunity to be hands on. “It was a bonding experience for associates and corporate to work on this project and figure out something new,” she says. “I liked the idea of donating our time.

“Children in the foster care system deserve to feel loved and supported, and we are honored to play a small part in providing them with things that bring childhood joy.”

The post Chicago’s CD Peacock Builds Bikes for Foster Children appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Whitefish Bay’s Business Improvement District had launched a grant program to help business owners create second-floor additions and rooftop gardens to add to the village’s tax base while encouraging nightlife.

“We’ve been on this street since 1940, and I needed more space,” says Dixon, who owns Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers with his son, Charlie Dixon. “It’s significantly more expensive to build up than out, but that was the only option I had.”

By the time pandemic shutdowns began, Dixon knew having a comfortable space upstairs was more important than ever. Half of his business is in premium watch brands, and he cultivated a privacy-seeking VIP clientele that included celebrity athletes. And of course, clients with COVID concerns valued elbow room and fresh air.

Dixon had complete confidence in the architects for the project, James Dallman and his wife, Grace La, principals of the firm LA DALLMAN. Dixon had known Dallman since they were in grade school together. “Grace and James are world-class architects and were wonderful listeners when we talked about how we envisioned doing it,” Dixon says.

The design was driven by the desire for a calm, relaxing yet elegant space that supports a range of different interactions between people. “Tom’s desire for some outdoor space also offered an exciting opportunity to open up to views of the sky, extending this quiet space into a miniature landscape and giving the feel of a sanctuary, set back from the busy street, with large windows facing the garden,” Dallman says.

A lounge area is a versatile addition to Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers.

A prismatic skylight, slightly tilted to the north, means that daylight is always diffuse and even, without glare or strong shadows. North-facing windows (in the Northern Hemisphere) provide the most even and pleasing light. The degree of light coming in at different times of the day creates different moods, Dixon says.

The project won both the 2022 Boston Society of Architecture Interior Architecture and Spatial Design Award and the 2023 Merit Award from the American Institute of Architects in Wisconsin.

The AIA Wisconsin said the addition exemplifies how small-scale projects can have an outsized impact on their urban contexts, in this case by creating social connection as a counterpoint to digital commerce and big-box retail.

The project used local materials and celebrates craftsmen from the surrounding community as well as Wisconsin artists, who were commissioned to create original artwork for the interior.

The contemporary space includes a gathering area, kitchen, dining room and bar. There’s a full bathroom, including a shower. Dixon can grill a steak for a supplier’s rep or serve the staff lunch on the rooftop garden.

Since the lounge debuted, business has doubled. Dixon attributes some of the growth to the pandemic-fueled demand for jewelry in recent years and an interest in high-end watches. But the growth has continued at a time when many of his peers say they’re giving up those gains, leading the Dixons to give a fair share of the credit to the addition and how it’s transformed their selling style. “We’re shopping with our clients now, rather than selling at them,” Charlie Dixon says.

The lounge space is versatile. They’ve hosted an array of live music performances, small client dinners catered by premier chefs, trunk shows, and private events. It served as their main showroom while they remodeled the first floor and is an ideal place for staff training and supplier meetings.

For one anniversary, a husband had purchased his-and-her Rolexes, and Dixon helped him create a special and memorable event upstairs as a surprise for the client’s wife. They played her favorite music (Al Green) and poured her favorite cocktail (vodka).

“It’s taught us that we all become closer to our clients when we break bread and share a glass of wine with them, rather than stand behind a counter across from them,” Tom Dixon says.

Tom and Charlie Dixon

Q & A with Architect James Dallman

Q. How did you choose the shape and the color palette of the space, as well as the style of decor and furnishings?

A. The design was very much driven by the desire for a calm, relaxing yet elegant space that supports a range of different interactions between people. The space is first and foremost about the human experience of being together and offering different ways of interacting.

The specific geometry of the project was driven by 1) a desire to create shared space that offers a range of different seating and types of gathering, from intimate one-on-one interactions to larger collective gatherings, to shared meals 2) providing a counterpoint to the necessity to have solid walls on two sides (due to the two long party walls that must be completely solid, as we were filling in between two adjacent existing buildings) by strategically positioning windows, skylights and the shaped ceiling to bring in more light and create the sense of having arrived at something special.

The ceiling shapes are a reference to the precise geometry of watchmaking. And the space is also laid out such that the visitor experience is sequential, rising up the stair kind of clears the palette so that when one enters the main space it has a certain drama, entering under a low ceiling which then bursts open, rising up to the skylight that encompasses the space. The overall effect is meant to be serene, and not to distract from the experience of human interaction and looking at finely crafted objects.

Tom’s desire for some outdoor space also offered an exciting opportunity to open up to views of the sky, extending this quiet space into a miniture landscape and giving the feel of a sanctuary, set back from the busy street, with large windows facing the garden.

All natural materials were chosen to compliment the space, with a simple off-white background, and highlighted by a combination of natural daylight and carefully positioned LED cove lighting and a few lamps.

Q. Can you explain what a prismatic skylight is and how it works to set different moods throughout the day?

A. The skylight, lined in plywood is carefully positioned on the space to create a strong center, but the ceiling is sloped down to form a kind of canopy over the primary gathering space, such that the skylight gathers the entire space together in light. The skylight being slightly tilted to the north, and having the deep plywood sleeve around it, means that the daylight entering the space is always diffuse and even, without glare or strong shadows. This is an old trick taken from artists’ studios, in which north facing windows (in the northern hemisphere) provide the most even and pleasing light for painting or sculpture.

This also makes it the best most flattering lighting for interacting with other people and for viewing beautiful and intricate objects such as fine watches and jewelry. The LED lighting was also chosen a color temperature that closely matches natural daylight, so that the overall effect is one of natural light both day and night, which is both comforting, but also allows Tom, Charlie and their team to present their products in the most comfortable atmosphere that closely approximates how they will be experienced on a daily basis.

Q. What are some of the materials used in the project?

A. The project materials include:

• Dark stained polished concrete floors (at main space).
• Dark stained beech wood floors (at stairs).
• Charred Black Locust wood siding at the roof terrace and entry (the Black Locust is a locally invasive tree that is being removed to make room for more native species, and the wood was treated for durability using an ancient Japanese technique of Shou Sugi Ban, which treats the surface of the wood with a controlled burn, the charred surface adds a beautiful texture and color, and protects the wood from decay.
• Baltic Birch plywood used for wall panels, lighting coves, cabinetry, skylight sleeve, and window surrounds. This kind of plywood is highly stable for cabinet-grade applications, is sustainable, and imparts a warm glow to the daylight entering the space.
• Natural Quartzite stone countertops and wall panels, which were chosen for their coloration and natural veining that compliment the other materials.

The post Wisconsin Jewelry Store Grows Up to Create a Lounge Experience appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

With its latest marketing campaign, “Made to Shine,” the largest privately owned jeweler in the U.S. with 21 locations is keeping the tagline but turning the spotlight on customers who incorporate jewelry into their everyday moments and activities.

One major goal is to lower the intimidation factor of fine jewelry, which can be inadvertently reinforced by advertising campaigns depicting perfect couples and perfect situations, says CEO and president Rordan Shane, who is based in Denver.

“The idea of jewelry historically has been one of important moments and adorning yourself and feeling beautiful and special,” Shane says. “But the high price tag that can be associated with some jewelry as well as some advertising campaigns raises the intimidation factor. This campaign is based in the most meaningful parts of everyday life. It makes the customer the hero, focuses on individuality and brings in a new psychographic.”

“Made to Shine” was inspired by Shane customers, who wanted to see more of themselves in advertising. It’s shifting the company’s perspective from “all about us” to “all about you.”

Shane says it’s a natural evolution for the company, which he describes as customer-focused and authentic. As he grew up in the family-owned business, which was founded in 1929, he learned the value of authenticity from his father, Tom, who doesn’t allow anything “not real” in the stores. Fittingly, in the new campaign, couples are real couples and the parent and child are real, too.

Shane heard an endorsement of the new campaign from a highly regarded source. “Even my mother said, ‘It is so nice to see people my age I can associate with and feel relevant with in the advertising.’ To me, that really hit home. As an authentic review from my own mother who is a fan and a critic, hearing that made me think we really hit the mark. It doesn’t feel like perfect models.”

Marketing staff, with help from a consultant, talked to more than 1,000 customers in focus groups to figure out not only how the customer perceives the company, but also what they want.

“The big shift was that historically we did focus on us as a brand, as a company, on what we do for you, and what we provide to you, and this shift is getting down to our core roots of our first day of training.

“The first thing everyone learns, and the first thing I learned, is the customer is the boss. This is an evolution to focus on our customer. That’s what they wanted.”

Shane Co. launched the “Made to Shine Real Stories” nationwide contest in July, inviting customers and jewelry enthusiasts to share their personal stories of how jewelry has profoundly impacted their lives for a chance to be featured in one of their radio ads. Twelve people who enter their stories in the contest will be randomly selected to receive $1,000, as well.

Customers were invited to share stories about jewelry that brought them confidence or represented a special moment in their lives.

The campaign will continue to be featured in all forms of advertising, including digital, outdoor, TV, radio, email, the website and in the store.

“I truly feel that Made to Shine is a complement to our more than 50 years of brand positioning as your friend in the jewelry business,” Shane says. “This is a logical evolution of our historic friend campaign.

“Making people feel seen and special, that’s what jewelry does. It recognizes important moments in people’s lives. These are lifetime physical objects with intangible memories attached to them.”

Or, as the 30-second commercials put it, “You don’t need an occasion. You and your life are the event. Everybody is made to shine.”

The post Shane Co. Asks Customers What They Want to See In Marketing appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

No punchline here. If you want to take the plunge at Albert’s Diamond Jewelers in Schererville, IN, and it’s Valentine’s Day, come on in. They’ll throw a party and call the magistrate. Whatever you’re wearing.

Every time that Albert’s Diamond Jewelers hosts their regionally famous “I Do” Event for Valentine’s Day, something stands out. The last time they hosted weddings in the store, in 2019, a groom played guitar and sang a song he’d written for his bride. One couple brought along a 100-person wedding party for their nuptials. Others have been hitched while decked out in what owner Joshua Halpern describes as outrageous looking tuxes and wedding gowns.

But 2023 was particularly memorable: Not only was it the first year Albert’s had held the event since the pandemic, it was also the first year that Halpern can recall a couple getting married in a costume of any kind, let alone in full dinosaur regalia.

The “I Do” event was inspired by Fred and Donna Halpern, former owners of Albert’s Diamond Jewelers, who renewed their wedding vows for their 30th anniversary 25 years ago at Albert’s original location in East Chicago, IN. They’ve been married 55 years and last renewed their vows on their 50th anniversary; this year they decided to stay at home in Florida.

In past years, as many as 27 couples have participated. This year, three couples tied the knot, and a fourth, who had gotten married at Albert’s 20 years ago, returned to renew their vows and celebrate their anniversary.

Emily Briney and Derek Keilman from Demotte, IN, the couples who showed up in dinosaur costumes, later changed into a tux and wedding dress for more traditional photos.

“They wanted to do something unique,” Halpern says. “They had planned on an elaborate wedding, and when they found out how much everything would cost, they wanted to save the money for a house or a trip.” It was a spur of the moment decision.

“The feedback is always positive, grateful and thankful,” Halpern says. “The judges and magistrates are excited, because they find it more fun than a courtroom.” This year, the weddings were officiated by Magistrate Jeffrey Miller.

Albert’s provided the newlyweds with a cake and flowers courtesy of Strack & Van Til and Denise Floral Designs. They played wedding music, set up a chapel with 100 chairs and a lighted background, treated all of the couples to dinner and provided witnesses. One of the couples also won a honeymoon package. People from the community come to observe, so wedding guests are always on hand.

The store’s marketing team shared a video of the dinosaur couple’s wedding on TikTok and Instagram, inciting an enthusiastic response. Although there is no local TV channel, the event was advertised in newspapers, on social media and radio.

Couples do not have to buy their rings in the store — or anything else — to be eligible to get married there, but the event does build loyalty and foster relationships. “It’s a community type of event that has nothing to do with drumming up business necessarily. We do a lot in our community, and we never do anything with the intent of getting something in return,” Halpern says.

Still, the publicity is a nice side effect. “There is a buzz in the community,” Halpern says. “Anytime you are a household name in your community is positive.”

Another benefit is that when couples sign up for the weddings, they often buy wedding bands. And whatever style of nuptials the couple has in mind, Albert’s will try to accommodate it.

“It’s OK to be goofy because goofy is what people talk about,” Halpern says.

The post Dinosaur-Costumed Duo Say “I Do” at Albert’s Diamond Jewelers in Indiana appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Presley had been asked to make a list of some of the things that reminded her of her mother.

“It was so funny, some of the things she said at 5: Pepsi, Elvis, reading, baseball games, black and blue (my favorite colors), Zuzu pet racing, (battery operated hamsters we used to race around the house),” Saba says. In effect, a whole litany of childhood memories.

Saba considered what it would mean to moms to have these types of memories in picture form and even better, as jewelry.

“I thought how cool would it be to have kids draw something like this? We’d pick the winners and make their pieces into necklaces.”

Saba consulted with a client, a local art teacher, who loved the idea and asked students in kindergarten through eighth grade to start drawing something that reminded them of their moms. More than 60 kids participated.

“We picked the ones we fell in love with,” Saba says. “We chose drawings that hit us emotionally by making us laugh so hard, or because of how creative they were or how sentimental.”

Originally, they’d planned to have six winners, but they wound up making eight of them.

The winning kids were able to watch their jewelry being made by hand by a bench jeweler in the store. “They got to see the store, see the jewelers’ work area, and they were just as emotional as we were. They were unbelievably in shock that their art had come to life.”

Saba’s team also showed the finished jewelry pieces to clients, who identified several pieces they’d like to buy. Two of those necklaces — The Crazy Cat and The Flower — will be sold in the store and proceeds donated to local art programs.

Another of the winning pieces is an elephant because the mom adores elephants and had an elephant version of everything, but no elephant necklace.

Another piece was an In-N-Out Burger, the double-double. “We were not sure what the mom would think, but she loved it,” Saba says.

Moms and kids were interested to learn how the jewelry was made and delighted with the results.

“The moms were floored. They were so excited they couldn’t believe it. Of course, there were tears, lots of tears. For our staff, this was our favorite project we ever did. We couldn’t stop getting excited, although at first it was really hard because we didn’t want to let any kids down.” As a result, Saba also let the art teacher know that moms whose kids were not chosen but who wanted to transform their children’s art into pendants would be able to do so at a discounted rate.

Saba is now revisiting her daughter’s childhood art collection in search of something that she’d like to wear as well. And she’s started something of an entry-level custom business around the idea. “I’ve had a lot of calls from people who saw the pendants posted on Facebook and are sending me their kids’ drawings because they want them made,” she says. She’s offering them for $150 in silver and making gold pieces as well.

As for the contest, Saba plans to make it an annual Mother’s Day event and may expand to include a second school next year.

The post Mother’s Day Contest Helps Forge Emotional Connection with Jewelry appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

During a diamond trade-up event in all of Sissy’s locations, for example, sales associates became so invested in helping the shoppers select a mounting that none of them remembered to show any of the 2-carat loose diamonds the shoppers had asked to see.

From the beginning, Sissy’s training program had been based on having new salespeople learn the ropes organically from Bill himself, but as the business acquired more locations, that learning process was slowing down to the point it would take a trainee two years to get up to full speed. In addition to five Arkansas locations, Sissy’s also has a store in Memphis.

“Bill had an amazing training program, but it was based on him being around all the time,” says William Jones IV, who had the good fortune, he says, to be trained his whole life by the best, including his dad, Bill, and his grandmother and company founder Sissy Jones.

When William took over the company’s training program two years ago, he was also stymied by geography, spending as many as eight hours a week simply traveling between locations. So he introduced Sissy’s Log Cabin University, based on a series of online courses that helps associates learn the basics of the company’s culture, sales techniques and even gemology. “We started recording our classes and sending them to a store and it worked extremely well,” William says.

It began as an onboarding program so that new hires would complete six hours of classes before they even started working.

He also began incorporating those improv actors who were secret shoppers into the in-person training program to foster relationship building, conversational skills and to ensure that associates can think on their feet.

The entire training program is based on the concept that the jewelry business is experience-based. Customers walking into one of Sissy’s locations may not understand that in order to see and learn about all those products under glass, they need to build a relationship with someone who can show them around. The sales associate, then, must know how to begin to establish that relationship smoothly and to eradicate any potential tension. That’s why monthly improv
training helps build confidence.

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“What we found out is that when you’re on the sales floor, you can get in uncomfortable situations,” William says. “Improv training is designed to put you in a state where you’re nervous and uncomfortable and you can practice what to do in those situations.” William says that the idea behind the training program is that it’s always better to have 10 returning customers than 10 new customers, so why not ensure every initial encounter leads to a regular client? Price wars aren’t necessary once loyalty is established.

Since introducing the new, formalized training system, Sissy’s has seen what Bill and William describe as remarkable improvements in closing not only engagement ring sales but diamond fashion as well. In order to sell diamond fashion pieces, in particular, sales skills are vital because clients may not have a good idea of what they want.

“I wish I could take credit,” William says. “But all I did was package this. It is what I grew up learning as I grew up in the business. It takes every ounce of training to operate an experience-based store.”

Sissy’s has begun to make their training program available to other stores, which may not have the resources to develop their own in-house training programs.

It’s branded as Jewelers Sales Academy.

“The question I’m asked most,” Bill says, “is why would I share my secrets? But these aren’t secrets. These are things we have forgotten in retail. This is what everybody used to do. It’s all about relationships, going back to the basics of how to treat people and read body language. How to clientele.

“As the tides rise, all boats rise. We want to make the industry a better place for all.”

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Zadok launched @zadoktime in February 2022 after it had become clear that Zadok Jewelers’ main Instagram account, focused on jewelry and diamonds, had an audience that was 90 percent female, and that the guys, particularly the watch collectors, were tuning out. “Watch guys would follow for a while and then stop,” Zadok says. “If we’re showing 95 percent jewelry and diamonds, the guys who are watch aficionados or watch geeks, they didn’t want to see that.”

Zadok Time’s content is often playful and humorous, and it has organically captured the attention of everyone from celebrity watch collectors and professional athletes to executives from prestigious timepiece brands.

Gilad Zadok

Before becoming marketing director of Zadok Jewelers in Houston, Zadok trained in improv and sketch comedy at the Groundings Theater in West Hollywood and attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television for a graduate program in feature film producing and screenwriting. He also worked as a production assistant, both as a freelancer and for producers/directors/screenwriters Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz at the Bedford Falls Company in Santa Monica.

The Instagram tone can be humorous but can’t go too far since Zadok is representing not only the family business but also the Zadoks’ watch brand partners.

“When you make a reel, you have to use different audio to get more reach,” he says. “Sometimes they’re funny, and there may be a curse word in there, but I know who my audience is.”

Because Zadok uses his own distinctive voice and point of view, viral possibilities seem limitless.

While attending the March 2022 trade show Watches and Wonders in Geneva, Zadok learned that Bulgari had just released the thinnest mechanical watch ever made. After he posted a photo of it, notifications on his phone went “nuts.” Within a year, that post had garnered 550,131 likes and reached 27.4 million accounts.

“I was born and raised in this business,” he says. “I have a perspective and a lifelong experience with brands. An industry insider perspective. I sit with the CEOS, I sit with the presidents, the head of Cartier North America.” He has conversations and sees products that are well out of the scope of most people’s experience.

His efforts have brought awareness to Zadok’s as an elite watch destination. “People started reaching out and asking if that watch were available, or when are you getting those in, and I’d wind up on the phone talking with watch collectors,” he says. “We see a lot of traffic coming from our website to our Instagram. I constantly hear feedback.”

As director of marketing, Zadok had stepped into a hands-on social media role often enough to know his watch account would be a major commitment. “It’s a machine,” he says. But his background in film and television saves time when he’s editing and creating content. “I have a passion for it and it comes out,” he says. “It’s also storytelling, and with my film background, creativity comes into it. I enjoy myself, and so I can find time for it.”

Zadok works with his parents, Zadok founders Dror and Helene; his wife, Lisa; two brothers, Jonathan and Segev; and sisters-in-law Amy and Michelle. Of the three Zadok brothers, he’s the creative one, he says. “That’s just my brain,” he says. “That’s how I view the world.”

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He’d been wearing a hat with ear flaps, a surgical mask, hiking boots and a coat, none of which was all that unusual for Vermont. But he had unusually red hands. There was also a picture. “We were all on alert,” Dumont says.

Not long after, on Dec. 13, Dumont saw a man who fit the description enter the store, but he was wearing a different hat and coat and his hands were not immediately visible. “I just said to my team be alert and grab your cellphones,” Dumont says.

The sales staff showed him one piece of jewelry at a time. When Dumont could see that his hands were red, she called the police, but they weren’t able to respond based on a suspicion.

“He said he needed to look at the piece closer to the window, near the front of the store. We said that wasn’t allowed, and he just walked out with it,” she says.

It been an excruciatingly tense 11 minutes. “The store was full of people, and then one person after another kept coming in, and we had to go through the motions while this other thing was in the back of our heads.”

They began locking the door, but the next day they let in a man without hat or surgical mask. A closer look revealed he had red hands. The police did respond this time, but he left when they wouldn’t let him hold anything and was at another store within five minutes. “Because he came back without a hat or mask, our video camera got a great image of him.” Police circulated the photo; not only was he arrested, but more jewelry from other stores was recovered than anyone realized had been stolen.

When the Von Bargen piece was returned to Dumont, who had designed it herself, store management decided to raffle it off to benefit the Howard Center’s Church Street Outreach Team, a local organization for mental health.

“As soon as we got it back, we decided we wanted to create some positivity out of a really terrible day,” she says. The stolen piece is an 18K yellow gold medallion on a long chain, with baguette and white brilliant cut diamonds flush set into it, valued at $4,550. Tickets were sold for $50, and limited to 150 to make it more appealing to people, but when the local TV station picked up the news, those tickets sold out in less than 24 hours, raising $7,500.

“The Church Street Outreach Team has been a great resource to us throughout the years,” Dumont says. “Whenever we’re confronted with individuals suffering from mental health issues, we call them. They work to keep our community safe.”

Local TV stations continued to follow the story. “All contributions by donors, by folks in the community, are really an investment in our community,” Howard Center’s Denise Vignoe told WCAX TV in Burlington. The Church Street Outreach Team provides resources to downtown merchants, but they also check in on Vermonters struggling with homelessness, substance abuse or mental health issues. They provide things like sleeping bags and tents, which are where the proceeds from the raffle will go.

The store had had a security meeting just weeks before with a police officer who worked in security for a bank. Dumont said it was frightening to be in the store twice with a suspected thief, but that the recent training session had helped reinforce important concepts.

“It was a good reminder that there is literally nothing you can do except get through it,” she says.

“We tend to think if we do X, Y and Z, this won’t happen to us or if we do X, Y and Z, we will be able to stop the person. Knowing there is nothing you can do takes away the pressure. Just get the person out of the store, let them take what they want and support each other after.”

Dumont and a group of local jewelers now keep in touch via text and are considering holding an annual jewelry raffle to benefit local organizations. “Giving back to our community has always been a part of our mission and something we feel fortunate to be able to do,” she says.

The post Vermont Jewelry Store Raffles Off Recovered Piece of Stolen Jewelry appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

WHEN MATTHEW GROSS first visited San Miguel de Allende in Mexico last year, he fell in love with it, and like many Americans before him, he quickly began to factor it into his retirement plans.

“It’s a pretty magical place,” says Gross, owner of MHG Jewelry Studio in Berkley, MI. “I was ready to sell everything and to move there.”

It also inspired him to imagine what he can do to bolster a fledgling community of local jewelry makers in a scenic city with Spanish-colonial architecture while spending some time away from Michigan’s frigid winters.

Gross is in the process of building a non-profit organization within the U.S. jewelry community to help San Miguel’s jewelers obtain much-needed tools and equipment and to elevate training.

Jesus Villaverde Fuentes teaches both in his home studio, at right, shown with his wife, Alejandra, and his students, and at the Instituto Allende, above.

While San Miguel is a well-known artist’s community, the jewelry trade remains rudimentary, Gross says. “Ninety percent of the jewelry stores are a little hole in the wall, and there’s a showcase and maybe a guy is working on the bench behind it,” he says. “They make it work with whatever they have.”

Jesus Villaverde Fuentes, who leads one effort to teach the jewelry arts in San Miguel, built his kiln out of parts recovered from trash, used a 5-power magnifying glass instead of a microscope and taught himself hand-engraving with a less-than-optimal engraver before meeting Gross last year. “The skills that they’ve learned are very, very basic, which they’ve done very well with, but we have a lot to give,” Gross says. “They need better skills, better equipment. It’s a struggle to make a living. With the right tools, you never know what someone can do.”

To date, Gross has received tool and equipment donations from Tapper’s Fine Jewelry in Michigan, AU Enterprise, Blaine Lewis of the New Approach School for Jewelers in Tennessee, and Charlotte Kearney, VP for product development at Gesswein, among others. He also raised money through a GoFundMe page to ship 500 pounds of equipment from Michigan to San Miguel. The crate also contained gemstones, findings and beads.

The focus of initial efforts has been to provide help to Villaverde, who teaches at the art school jewelry department of San Miguel’s Instituto Allende and has his own teaching studio for children, where he lives with his family and also sells vegetables and fruit.

Matthew Gross, right, is helping to equip instructor Jesus Villaverde Fuentes.

Ultimately, Gross would like to raise $500,000 to $1 million to refurbish the jewelry school, invite U.S. jewelers to teach master classes there, and to create a co-op studio, where graduate students could rent affordable space to launch their businesses.

Already, after Villaverde received the first shipment, progress is being made. Gross used FaceTime to teach him how to use the ultrasonic and the magnetic tumbler he sent. Now Villaverde has a microscope, a rolling mill, push engravers and has taught himself hand-engraving. He sends photos and videos of his progress to Gross, who says, “The skill level has gone way up.”

Gross is bringing other jewelers with him to San Miguel this winter to promote the effort and assess the community’s needs. This time, he plans to stay a month. “I asked friends in the business, and they said count me in,” Gross says.

Changing even one life at a time can have cumulative effects, he believes.

“It will be interesting to know that if Jesus does better financially, then he can give his daughter a better opportunity. Who knows what she’ll do. She might change the world. That’s the exciting thing for me; what will happen when I’m out of the picture.”

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Paul Altieri, CEO, bought the company from Bob Thompson 12 years ago. To avoid confusion, “people just call me Bob,” he says. “It worked out better because everyone in the company answers to Bob. It’s corny, but it’s memorable. If it were Paul’s Watches, it would be all about me.”

Bob’s Watches is an online marketplace where watch enthusiasts can buy, sell and trade pre-owned and vintage timepieces, particularly Rolexes.

Paul Altieri

Expected 2022 revenues are $120 million.

Altieri is one of the nation’s largest private collectors of vintage and modern Rolex watches, a passion born at age 14 when he got a job as a caddy at a private golf club. “The cool guys who were successful and smart wore Rolex,” he says. “A lot of them were good golfers, too. I always said if I make it, someday I’m going to buy a Rolex watch.”

Altieri had worked in jewelry retail, real estate, financial services and the restaurant business. When he turned his entrepreneurial gaze to the Internet about 15 years ago, he explored possible options for ventures that ranged from candy and flowers to women’s shoes and diamonds.

“And we kept coming back to watches,” he says. “It was a very expensive item that could fit in a box and we could ship it anywhere. It was a gigantic industry, it was important and it wasn’t being done right.”

The pre-owned watch market, he says, lacked a solid formula for ensuring consumers received a fair price for their used watch. By disclosing the true market value, including both the “buy” and the “sell” price for each watch, Altieri brought a new level of transparency to the transaction.

Doing it right involves not only pricing it right but authenticating every watch and offering exceptional customer service. “People come to us because they know they can trust us,” he says.

And they’re reliably available. They show up.

“A lot of companies will put up a website and hide contact information,” he says. “They don’t want to be bothered. We don’t feel that way. We get 6,000 phone calls a month and 300 inquires by email every day. Old school meets new school. They still call us or chat with us. It’s not a nuisance.”

Altieri employs 48 people, including 10 sales reps who take those calls and respond promptly to chat, text and email. “We like to get back to people quickly,” he says. “That’s our DNA. Speed. Sometimes they will order a watch today and have it by 10:30 the next morning. It can be that quick.”

Another old-school touch is hosting in-person events at the company’s headquarters in Newport Beach, CA, including an intimate collectors dinner catered by gourmet chef GTG.

Although the business is conducted online, live help is readily available via chat, phone, text or email.

The advent of smartwatches has made a Rolex no less powerful a symbol among a growing demographic of guys ages 28 to 60 ready to spend an average of $11,000 on a timepiece. Narrowing down that demographic further, 34 to 40 is the sweet spot.

“They’ve graduated college, got an MBA, got married, hit a homerun. They’ve done something successful, and they want to memorialize the event. It’s been historically a terrific investment. We call it the disease. Once you get the watch disease, it gets under your skin, and you want more of them,” says Altieri.

Bob’s Watches deals in eight to 10 brands. But Rolex represents 75 percent of the secondary watch market and 29 percent of the primary market.

Altieri ships anywhere FedEx delivers.

“I was kind of late to the Internet game, but I couldn’t believe how powerful a medium it could be,” he says, “And we’re just getting started. The market is enormous, domestically and internationally, and we’re not in the second or third inning yet. We’re excited that we got an early start.”

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