Jewelers Circular Keystone articles from July 2009

Jewelers Circular Keystone archives from July 2009

At Last.
July 1, 2009... Staff An editor in the design world loves yellow gold jewelry, statement pieces, and modern takes on classics. Who is your favorite jewelry designer? I like the Greek jeweler Ilias Lalaounis because they work in yellow gold, which...

Tighten Your Belt (But Let Out Some Optimism).(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... Staff While retailers have adjusted sales forecasts, and consumers have reined in spending, JCK Luxury has trimmed some pages from its editorial portfolio and hitched a ride inside this issue of JCK . Belt-tightening is a sign of the...

Keep Your Salespeople Psyched!
July 1, 2009... By Rob Bates, Senior Editor These may be down times in the jewelry industry, but retail jewelers can help their sales associates maintain upbeat attitudes. Traffic is down. So are sales. Newspaper headlines are uniformly negative. So...

What 'The Necklace' Can Teach the Jewelry Industry.(The Necklace: A True Story of 13 Women, 1 Diamond Necklace and a Fabulous Idea)(Editorial)
July 1, 2009... By Hedda T. Schupak, Editor-at-Large Thirteen women bought a timeshare in a diamond necklace that wound up changing a lot of lives. Kate Peterson, one of the industry's leading business consultants and trainers, asked me a few months...

The Show Dilemma.
July 1, 2009... By Frank Dallahan The 2009 editions of the Luxury Show, Couture, and The JCK Show are now in the history books. It appeared to this observer that the traffic and the mood of the industry were down. Though the state of the industry...

Jewelers Try to Navigate the UCCs.
July 1, 2009... By Rob Bates Shanu Singh Guliani, owner of Shanu's Fine Jewelry, Pembroke Pines, Fla., and a blogger for JCKonline.com, was surprised when a supplier asked her to sign a consignment and security agreement. "I had never seen this kind...

Is De Beers No. 2?
July 1, 2009... Staff It raised eyebrows when a statement from Anglo-American said De Beers' diamond production dropped a whopping 90 per-cent in the first quarter of 2009. A New York Times article about Russian diamond producer Alrosa then rubbed salt in...

Finlay's Future in Doubt.(Carlyle and Company Jewelers)(Finlay Enterprises Inc.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... Staff Noting that it has already defaulted on its latest credit agreement, Finlay said in its latest filing that there were "substantial doubt[s]" about its "ability to continue as a going concern." "We experienced a significant...

Robbins Bros. CEO: 'Chapter 11 Is Behind Us'.
July 1, 2009... Staff Andy Heyneman, president and CEO of Robbins Bros., spoke to JCK just after a court allowed Robbins Bros. Jewelry, an affiliate of investment firm Weston Presidio, to purchase 10 of its 16 stores, after the chain filed for Chapter 11....

Are We There Yet?(Report)
July 1, 2009... By Hedda T. Schupak Summertime and the title question above go hand-in-hand. Usually the question comes from road-weary children begging their parents for a rest stop. This year it's being asked by our recession-weary nation, most of whose...

New Diamond Paradigm.
July 1, 2009... By Ben Janowski Change in the distribution of diamonds--the pipeline--is the subject of a presentation I made at The JCK Show. There is plenty to consider. The transition from a heavily controlled supply--the De Beers monopoly--to a...

How to Create Problem-Solving Employees.(Reprint)
July 1, 2009... By Gretchen Miller Has this ever happened to you? It's one of those days, an endless stream of issues and problems. Your top two salespeople are at each other's throats again, and no one can make a decision without your approval. If you're...

Book Smarts.(Reprint)
July 1, 2009... Staff The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It , by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath, Portfolio, $25.95 (240 pages) Most Americans have encountered unpleasant or even hostile...

Get Press--Without a Release.(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... By Richard Dalglish Another way to communicate with the public and get your store's name into the local paper is to write a letter to the editor. You can do that by responding to a news item or feature story that appeared there. Here are...

Increase Your Customer Base.
July 1, 2009... By Brad Huisken It has been said that as much as 70-80 per-cent of a retail store's sales volume comes from 20-30 percent of its customer base. What you don't often hear is that you're probably losing 25-30 percent of your customer base...

Pearls of Wisdom.
July 1, 2009... By Rick Bannerot Joel Schechter and Ralph Rossini , CEO and president, respectively, of Honora Pearls , recently discussed what's working well and what needs to change in the jewelry business as well as common mistakes even the best...

Inspiration Leads to Sales-peration.
July 1, 2009... Staff Keeping your staff happy and motivated is a key factor in increasing sales per employee. David Peters, director of education for Jewelers of America, offers these tips at right: Institute a reward and recognition program. Give...

Gem Pricing Report.
July 1, 2009... Staff The gem industry is seeing a slight uptick in activity. However, this has been most evident among custom jewelers and designers. Unusual gems and lower price points remain the focus of consumer spending. Sales of standard stock items...

How to Deal With Difficult Customers.(Editorial)
July 1, 2009... By Glen A. Beres, Contributing Editor Every jewelry professional is likely to encounter challenging customers. JCK has identified seven classic difficult customer types and offers tips from jewelry sales experts to turn them into satisfied...

CAD/CAM, New Location Boost Smith & Bevill.
July 1, 2009... By Paul Holewa, Senior Editor In the Portland, Ore., area Smith & Bevill Jewelers is known for both custom work and repair work, which represent 35 percent and 10 percent of the company's operations, respectively. But in 2004, as these...

Just Treat It.(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... By Jennifer Heebner An ongoing practice in jewelry is to scorch, coat, mix, and generally abuse metal until it gives you the color you want. We're talking about treatments and alloys, which have wrought unexpected colors from gold,...