JimmyCast

Podcast: Hear Secrets of Cool From the Only Full-Time Employee of America’s Coolest Small Jewelry Store

At least a couple customers a week come in thinking it’s a place to eat.

Published

4 years ago

July 21, 2019

Jimmy DeGroot Instore July 2019 Issue

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IN THIS MONTH’S episode of JimmyCast, hosts Jimmy DeGroot and Doug Meadows chat with the manager of the winning store in the “Small Cool” division of INSTORE’s America’s Coolest Stores”, EAT Gallery of Maysville, KY.

Katherine Cotterill, manager at EAT Gallery, has had an eclectic past, including more than three years spent in New Zealand and Samoa (2:30). She talks about how she was hired to run the store in 2016 (5:30) by Simon and Laurie Watt, who had opened EAT Gallery in the early 2000s as a side project to their main business, colored gemstone dealers Mayer & Watt.

The discussion continues to cover EAT’s attention-getting (and occasionally confusing to visitors) neon “EAT” sign (9:15), which had previously identified a diner that was a town fixture for 50 years. “We are definitely not a restaurant,” says Cotterill. “But we do say that we’ll feed your soul.”

As for the big question of how many visitors per week come in, thinking it’s a restaurant? “At least a couple a week,” says Cotterill.

Hear more of the conversation — including tips on how to make a tiny business stand out with marketing and product selection (16:00) — in this month’s JimmyCast.

Why This Jeweler Chose Wilkerson

Mark Lauer is the owner of Mark Michael Diamond Designs, the Minnesota-based jewelry gallery known for exceptional and uniquely designed diamond jewelry. Though he loved creating the beautiful jewelry his business was known for, retirement was an exciting alternative to the 60+ hours a week he’d spent building it up. He called Wilkerson to help with a retirement sale. “I did talk to two other companies, but I just didn’t feel they offered the same services that Wilkerson did,” he says. “I knew Wilkerson had the expertise to follow through and give me the service and results that I wanted. They’re the number one rock stars in this industry.”