November 4, 2025 • 49 mins
Michael is joined by three independent jewelers who share how they protect margins, create memorable offers, and keep teams sharp during the busiest weeks of the year.
We discuss gold pricing, VIP outreach, gift guides, and why the week after Christmas can outsell Black Friday.
Guests:
Vincent Spilotro from Arezzo Jewelers
Anna Barnett from Barnett Jewelers
Lee Elgin from Elgin's Fine Jewelry
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Welcome to In the Loop.
What is up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening to Inthe Loop.
This week I have a retailerroundtable, and this is a
popular series where I have uhretail jewelers on to discuss
what their store is lookinglike, how they're preparing for
(00:21):
the holidays, and uh whatthey're thinking about going
into the most important time ofthe year.
I have on Vincent Spilacho fromArezzo Jewelers, Anna Barnett
from Barnett Jewelers, and LeeElgin from Elgin Find Jewelry.
And we're talking all about howthey're prepping for the
holidays and if they're runningsales.
It's a really interestingconversation because they seem
(00:43):
to be learning from each otherand uh it's a really cool
conversation.
I hope you enjoy.
Cheers!
SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
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And now back to the show.
SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
What's up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
I'm joined by Anna Barnett fromBarnett Jewel Jewelers, uh, Lee
Algin from Algin's Fine Jewelry,and Vince Spilaccio from Arezzo
Fine Jewelry.
The main goal with this one isI'd like to talk about what it
(02:17):
is that you guys are doing foryour stores, other than just
opening up the unlocking thedoors and letting people in to
buy some beautiful jewelry.
Uh, we all know that if you wereto do that, the holidays would
kind of, you know, handle someof the marketing for you.
It's kind of built into themarketing calendar.
But I kind of wanted to ask,maybe we can start with uh
(02:39):
Vincent.
Can you just kind of give me anidea?
What is your mindset going intothe holidays this year?
SPEAKER_05 (02:45):
Well, this year, I'm I'm hoping it's going to be a
good year.
Uh we we definitely bought alot, prepared a lot for the
year, uh, gold being the pricethat it's at.
We're very fortunate to alreadyhave a stock of it.
So we're not planning on buyingany more of that uh kind of that
kind of stock for our store.
(03:05):
But um getting prepared, uh, Ihired a new employee to actually
help me with the marketingaspect.
I am reaching out to my VIPs.
I haven't yet, but I will.
And uh I will have uh twodifferent sales.
Uh one will be like ageneralized sale, and the other
one will be um focusing on mysuper high-end product because I
(03:27):
feel like this year is not theyear for the super high-end
stuff.
So I wanted to clear out what Ihave because I do have a lot of
that inventory.
And then I want this year to bethe last year I actually have a
sale in the holidays because Iwant to put I want to move my
sales to different parts of theyear because we're getting the
customers anyway.
So I want to see if that is uhI'll I'll test it out next year
(03:49):
to see if that works.
But yeah, this year I'll behaving a couple sales and uh
next year, hopefully, I won't behaving them during the holidays.
SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
That's so interesting.
I love that because, like, inthe end, if you're gonna have
the people walking through, ifyou discount something, let's
just say 10%, theoreticallyyou're just kind of wasting 10%,
right?
SPEAKER_05 (04:08):
So yeah, that's that's an interesting kind of
thing.
My my mindset now is my uhinventory is pretty well priced
because I haven't raised itsince this huge increase of the
gold price.
So I will probably be doing thatcloser to holiday.
Um, I did raise it before a fewmonths ago, but I haven't raised
it again.
So my my inventory is alreadywell priced.
It would be the discount priceif if I put it up to market
(04:31):
price today.
SPEAKER_01 (04:32):
Oh, interesting.
And what about you, Anna?
Um, what's your mindset kind ofgoing into this part of the
year?
We were just talking about is itlike exciting?
Is it uh dreading?
I don't know.
What what are your kind of uhwhere's your head at going into
this year?
SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
Yeah, yeah.
First of all, thank you so muchfor having me on this.
Um, we are so excited about therest of the year.
Uh, we've got a lot going on.
Um, this year we've we've kindof like switched our agenda to
giving things, giving like afree gift instead of doing sales
um and partnering with EdgeRetail Academy.
(05:05):
We really want to like move awayfrom discounting.
So in May, we gave awayfive-day, four-night cruises.
And for Christmas, we're doingum half carat lab gram studs for
Black Friday weekend.
So when they spend a thousanddollars, they get a free pair of
those studs.
So I'm very excited about that.
(05:25):
We've never done anything likethis.
It's always been like, you know,come in for 50% off.
And we really, like I said, wereally want to get away with
from that.
So I'm very excited to see howthat goes.
We're sending out postcards withdrive retail for that, and then
I'm doing um digital marketingwith hope uh with you guys.
Um that's that's going reallywell.
(05:45):
Uh, she's gonna do some emailsfor me as well.
So very, very excited aboutthat.
We um we also do ladies' nightevery year, and we usually have
one, um, meaning like all theladies get invited to one night,
but after talking with um theFalls family, Falls jewelers,
they actually do two ladies'nights.
SPEAKER_03 (06:07):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
Yeah, so they do that because it like it
obviously gives people twodifferent days they could come,
where like, you know, if theywere out of town for one, they
could come to the other one.
Um, and why that was soappeasing to me was because when
we have one lady's night,there's so many people in our
store you can hardly walk.
And it's overwhelming for mysales team, it's overwhelming
(06:32):
for the the customers becausethey can hardly move.
And we really want to be able togive everyone some more
dedicated time.
So I'm actually gonna split thealphabet up and do, you know, A
through M last names are gonnabe invited to one night, M
through Z is gonna be adifferent night.
So um, yeah, really collaboratedwith Caleb on that one to get
two nights going.
(06:52):
And I'm excited to see how thatturns out.
That's always a those events arealways great because women will
self-purchase and they'll fillout wish lists.
So it it's always a big success.
So very excited about that, andvery excited about giving away
some studs and seeing what kindof business that drums up.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
So cool.
Man, really interesting to hearthat you can just uh that small
like tinkering, like just thelittle small tweak, can make
such a big impact.
Is when you do your wish list,this is maybe a silly question.
Are you having them fill outphysical, like um like pen and
paper type wish lists, or areyou having them do like a
digital version?
(07:30):
What how do you execute that?
SPEAKER_02 (07:32):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So it is a physical wish list.
Um, they fill out the top part,you know, is all their
information, the second part istheir spouse or significant
other or whoever's gonna beshopping for them, and then we
um, you know, put the SKUnumbers down on there.
What we usually do is we willput all of those into like a
clear container and we dodrawings throughout the night,
(07:54):
you know, for ladies' night.
Oh, fun.
So it's yeah, it's enticing forthem because if they fill one
out, you know, they go into thedrawing, they can win something
that night.
And then what we do when theevent is over is we actually put
them all into the edge so thatno matter who comes in and shops
for that person, um, whicheveremployee's helping, they can
literally just pull up theaccount and it's all right there
in edge.
Wow.
(08:15):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:16):
That's it makes it so so uh so simple and also
effective that you can also, youknow, kind of have a shelf life
to it.
But and Lee and yourself, um, Iknow that you were talking, uh I
talked with you previously aboutyou know getting excited and
also marketing throughout theentire year.
Uh so this part of the yearseems like it's kind of the
(08:37):
continuation of that.
Um, are you doing anythingdifferent, kind of going into
the final push, or are you justkeeping the foot down on the gas
sort of thing?
SPEAKER_06 (08:45):
Yeah, hey, thanks.
It's uh great to be here.
Yeah, we're we're keeping ourfoot on the gas for sure.
Um, we've got our sort ofmarketing plan in place.
Um and we'll uh we'll crank backup some video ads on like um
streaming TV and things likethat.
We did it last year.
It seemed to get a good responseand had some good metrics, and
(09:08):
so we and we had a good seasonlast year, so we're gonna
allocate some budget for that ontop of the other digital
marketing efforts and things wehad.
And you know, and it it's alwaysuh this time of year is super
busy, we're getting ready forthe holidays.
Um, I love it.
It's the best time of the year.
Uh I don't dread it one bit.
Nice.
We're so excited, you know.
(09:30):
Um we is and as far as likesales and things, I'm kind of in
the camp with Vincent, you know,in the last year or two, we've
sort of gotten away from the thediscounting messaging uh around
the holidays, um, moving moretowards just gift guides.
You know, we're gonna puttogether a lot of gift guides um
that we'll have um landing pageson the website and things like
(09:53):
that.
And then um now we did just havea big six-hour, sixty off like
nice clearance sale and wasreally successful, so that's
gonna take care of thediscounting, I think, for a
while, but it was it workedwell.
We got we moved a lot of umthings we've had just a little
too long, so it was it wassuccessful.
(10:15):
But no, we're we're gonna keepour foot on the gas, man, and uh
finish the year on a high notefor sure.
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
So cool.
No, Vincent and Anna, just outof curiosity, did you guys uh
did you guys hear thissuggestion about getting away
from discounts?
Or is that something that comeslike internally, like you're
making your own strategy, or didsomeone advise you to move away
from sales?
Because it sounds like you kindof both developed that strategy
(10:43):
independently.
Um I'm always curious, is itlike a data-driven approach to
looking at your own sales fromyears past?
Or um is this like, ah, weshould try something new?
What does that kind of decisionmaking look like?
SPEAKER_05 (10:55):
For me, I could tell you 100%.
Someone told me.
Oh, really?
When they told me it cli itclicked.
And uh, yeah, I was like, ofcourse, of course, like that's
that's silly of us.
And I wanted to say the reasonwhy I'm still like I didn't want
to have a sale this year, butthe reason why we are still is
because we carry that Pandoraline and we are having a
closeout sale for them, so thatwe're gonna bundle up our sale
(11:18):
by getting rid of that line.
And then post that we're havinga trunk show for a trunk show
for a new silver line that we'regonna come in to replace it.
So that's very exciting.
Very exciting.
SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
Yeah, so for us, um, someone told me as well.
Um, we're clients of Edge RetailAcademy.
Um, Amy is our business coach,and before that, Stephen Barnes
was, and and he said the samething.
Um, so the biggest thing islike, you know, the expectation
that once something's on sale,they get a discount, they come
in next time, they're gonnaalways expect whatever they buy
to be on sale.
(11:50):
So we obviously want to moveaway from that.
The other thing is that we usethe IJO pricing guidelines.
So everything that we have outis already priced for the
margins that we should begetting on every single piece.
So, I mean, we really shouldn'tbe discounting, right?
Because it's priced at what weshould get for that piece.
So it's really just moving awayand getting the margins that we
(12:13):
need, you know, on the items.
So um, yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (12:17):
Adding to Vincent's point about, you know, a lot of
our inventory is probably pricedgood anyway.
Uh just with how you know thesurge we've had in gold in the
last six months, so uh reallythe whole year.
Um, so it's kind of like um uhyou know they're getting a good
deal versus having to maybecustomize it or special order it
(12:40):
at current pricing, currentgold.
So um that you know, that's uhanother reason to kind of, you
know, and then even offer thatto the customer as a as a reason
to buy is like, look, if we sellthis and have to order it, you
know, it might cost more, youknow, urgency.
SPEAKER_01 (12:56):
That was like kind of that question is uh I always
wonder, like, are retailers orsorry, are customers actually
paying attention to that?
Because I'm always like, I'lltalk to my friends, like, oh,
did you know that the price ofgold is just like increasingly
breaking records and it's likeinsane?
And 90% of my friends are like,I have no idea, or honestly,
maybe even 100% of my friendshave no idea about the price of
(13:18):
gold, even the ones that likethey might might be able uh pay
it paying attention to it.
Do you ever have thatconversation about like this is
an investment?
Like you're buying uh a largequantity of gold at a time when
it's important to be buyinggold, or is that conversation
not really being had withshoppers?
SPEAKER_05 (13:34):
So I sell gold, like that's one of our bread and
butter is gold here.
We sell solid gold chains,pendants, earrings, everything
gold.
And I feel like I have thatconversation several times a
day.
I've customers know they know,but they're blissfully ignorant
to it because I mean it's gold,so it's already expensive, and
(13:55):
they think I'm just increasingthe price.
But it's uh I explain it everyday.
The price of gold's fourthousand dollars.
Oh, oh, is that expensive?
I'm like, well, it doubled thisyear.
Um almost, it almost doubledthis year.
So whatever you bought last yearcost twice as much this year.
Oh, I can't believe that.
And then you go and you try toshow it's it is a broad concept
(14:17):
to most people.
So I do have that conversationevery day.
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
Yeah, look at the chart.
Like you can see, we're notmaking up this number.
Like, this is literally theprice almost, I think,
everywhere in the world at thispoint.
It's like it's it's an it'suniversal.
SPEAKER_06 (14:31):
Yeah, our customers tend to uh some of them are sort
of in tune with it, and otherswe talk about, um, talk about it
with them, and it's uh it'scrazy what's happened with the
gold price.
And um, you know, it's uh it'salways hard to predict what's
gonna happen, but um it seems tobe um it doesn't seem to be
(14:54):
coming down anytime soon.
Of course, the minute I say thatit'll crash.
Knock on wood.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, the minute I go buy abunch of coins, then it's you
know, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
That's really interesting.
I uh I I think gold is one ofthose things that is, I feel
like has the propensity to umbreak out of like our little
echo chamber of jewelry.
Um for example, I thought thatlab grown diamonds would be that
catalyst for like peoplesuddenly taking an interest in
not suddenly taking an increasedinterest in the jewelry world.
(15:28):
Um, like, hey, did you know thatthe that diamonds are like being
able to be made and like theprice is like fluctuating?
Um, no one, none of my friendsthat are not in jewelry uh seem
to uh be aware of that kind ofdiscourse.
But then with gold, I I thinkthat that one is it's on the
news all the time and it's uhit's one of the tickers, you
(15:49):
know, it's always there.
Um, I didn't know if that is ourlab groans being spoken about
and how the price is kind ofincreasingly going down.
Um to Yeah, but every but that'ssomething everyone knows.
SPEAKER_05 (15:59):
Like that I don't have the conversation.
They they come and they alreadyknow.
Like yesterday, customer came inand never met before.
They're like I and their quotewas, I can't believe how cheap
lab groans have gotten.
SPEAKER_01 (16:09):
Oh, really?
Oh, interesting.
Um, and I guess back to thisdiscussion around the holidays.
What's our thoughts on um, Ithink it might have been Anna or
Vincent was mentioning reachingout to your VIPs?
And this is one of thosediscussions that um I actually
have started to take to heartfrom having spoken to people on
in the loop uh when it comes tomy own paintings.
(16:30):
I used to be kind of shy aboutthe ideas of um, I mean,
affectionately referred to themas whales, you know, these uh
clients that are VIPs that spenda fair amount of money with you,
uh, whether it's because theyreally like you or they have a
lot of available and liquid, youknow, money.
Um, do you guys lean into themarketing towards these uh small
(16:52):
number of VIPs or whales?
Is that something that you'reyou actively are trying to do,
or does it just happennaturally?
SPEAKER_05 (16:59):
Um, I know I think I talked to Anna about this.
Uh, she was really good at this.
I I do, but I'm trying to bebetter at it.
Uh, I feel like we did a goodjob last year really getting uh
used to the my not me doing it,my employees doing it.
Um Lee mentioned that he didthat 60 off, 60 percent, 60%
(17:21):
off, six hour sale.
And James Pork gives you ascript, and one year we did it
and the we used the script andit wasn't successful.
And last year we used our ownscript and it was wildly
successful.
And so I feel if we uh if wekeep that momentum going, if we
start calling do the same thingwe did last year without the big
(17:41):
sale, we'll still have the samesuccess.
SPEAKER_06 (17:43):
Interesting.
Yeah, and we we reached out toour VIPs for the sale, a lot of
them, and um a good number ofthem came in and were
appreciative of the to let themknow, you know.
Um and we've even we even hadsome where it was like uh you
know, with the discount theygot, it was we we were worried
that maybe we're pulling forwardsome business from Christmas,
(18:07):
but a lot of people ended upjust saying, Well, I'm gonna get
this today.
And then something else later,I'm gonna put this on hold for
Christmas.
And we went ahead and gave themthe price, you know, and it's
like, look, just put you.
So they we've ended up movingtwo multiple pieces, um, and
then also it's set up to wherethose sales will count around
(18:27):
Christmas time.
So it's um it was kind of awin-win.
But outside of that, yeah, justthat direct outreach, people
really appreciate it.
Yeah, most people and are justsuper, you know, responsive to
it.
And um we we we try not to relyon those sales sort of to like
(18:48):
make the year or make theseason, but man, it really helps
when they come through, youknow.
Yeah, it does.
It's it feels good when you havethat, you know, five-figure sale
and you're like, yeah, come on.
SPEAKER_05 (19:00):
And I feel like once you start reaching out, it it's
you're uncomfortable becauseyou're afraid of the response
you might get, but vast majorityis positive.
You everyone's gonna get a fewpeople just hang up on you, no
big deal.
But honestly, the vast majorityof people are very, you know,
happy to hear from you.
So that's what makes it better.
(19:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
What about you, Anna?
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
Yeah, so I don't know that our messages
necessarily say we rely on them,but I cater to them so that I
get the business.
Uh, and what I mean by that is Icall I have this special list of
people, I call them my conciergepeople.
I drive jewelry to these people.
Um, Jacksonville is a huge city.
(19:46):
So that's so cool.
Um yeah, so there's a couple zipcodes in our city that are like
45, 50 minutes from our jewelrystore, hiring clients.
Um, they literally, they'redoctors, most of them are
doctors, uh, friends of thefamily.
Um, and they will, you know,I'll reach out to them.
How can I help shop, you know,for your wife this this year?
(20:07):
So they'll send me some thingsand I'll send pictures back and
forth, and then we'll decide onsomething and I will take it to
them.
Um, so those are all you know,10,000, I would say, plus sales.
And um, I'm happy to do that.
I love doing it.
Uh, it's fun to get out of theoffice and and go take that.
But yeah, so that's how I meanobviously we have customers that
(20:28):
spend that that come in, but um,that's like a special little
thing that I do, and I make alittle a box.
Um, I think you know, KyleMaynard has seen it.
I know Vincent has seen it, butI I put in all of our branded
stuff, um, our signature scent,um, you know, jewelry cleaner.
I make it nice and fun, somechampagne, and I take that like
with the gift every year thatthey pick out.
(20:50):
So um, yeah, so I love that thatconcierge list that I cater to.
Um, and then of course, youknow, the ladies' night and
stuff like that.
There's some big people thatcome into those events and stuff
like that, but but the specialthing is is really hand
delivering those pieces.
SPEAKER_05 (21:06):
That gift box that Anna makes is incredible.
SPEAKER_02 (21:10):
It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01 (21:11):
Go on about the signature scent.
Is that like a perfume that youguys like built or what what is
that?
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
So that is through Air Essentials.
Um, I know they're in IJO, Idon't know if they're probably
in RJO too, but um, yeah, it's acompany that they actually um
they have like tons of scentsthat are already made, but they
will brand it to your company.
And so they've got some bigaccounts, like they do the
Waldorf Astoria Hotel scent, um,which we think is the same scent
(21:41):
that Barney Jewelers has becausewe went on a trip and we like
walked in the hotel and we werelike, whoa, this smells like
Barnet Jewelers.
Um, so yeah, they have some bigaccounts.
The scents are all amazing, andyou can just I think you can
like completely cust, you know,do a custom one if you want to.
But we picked one that wasalready made and branded it to
our store.
And so we have the scent in adiffuser in the store.
(22:03):
So you walk in, you immediatelysmell it.
It's made for a big space.
Yeah, and then they can purchaseit in a um diffuser for their
home or a room spray.
Um, and people do buy those, butI I give a lot of those away to
our VIP clients.
SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
Wow, that's branding on a whole nother level when you
think about it.
Because what they always saybranding is just um having a
signature for every sense, andthey always I guess that we do
always kind of forget, uh, likeyou know, the uh sense of smell.
And yes, what a reallyfascinating way to extend it.
A plus, good, good, good show.
(22:39):
Punchmark's gonna get asignature scent pretty soon, I'm
pretty sure.
That's that's awesome.
All right, guys.
So I kind of also want to talkabout uh trends.
And I'm a big fan of jewelrytrends, but I see it from a very
different lens than you guys inthat I'm I feel like I'm
watching uh just through ascreen at this point.
Where I live is man, I wish Icould just bring you guys here
(23:01):
and have you guys see it's veryuh very redneck.
No one wears uh really jewelry,but what they do wear is really
interesting to me.
So a lot of um gold hoops and alot of uh like just gold jewelry
in general is very popular uphere because it has to be
removable because a lot ofpeople work with their hands,
very blue collar.
So if you have like um you knowa bracelet, you need to be able
(23:24):
to take the bracelet off uhregularly.
Otherwise, uh you won't be ableto get onto some of these job
sites if you have like um, youknow, a Cuban link and you can't
take it off, sort of thing.
Uh Vincent, you mentioned thatyour signature is or your bread
and butter is uh is goldjewelry.
Um Lee and Anna, what do youguys have like kind of a bread
and butter that you sort of leaninto, like that you're known
(23:45):
for?
SPEAKER_06 (23:46):
Well, I would say that we um, you know, we try and
follow the trends so much.
We're doing a lot of goldjewelry too.
Uh, you know, we've started toum stock more and more of it.
Um, but in the fashion jewelry,you know, we do uh uh yellow
gold, yellow gold, uh bridal,yellow gold fashion, you know,
(24:07):
even a lot of two-tones comingback um in in fashion.
A lot of people mixing metalsand uh stacking things.
So it's those trends seem to beum carrying on in our market.
Um so and I know it's different,you know, depending kind of can
(24:29):
vary a little bit depending onwhere you are uh in the country,
but that's kind of what's beenworking for us.
SPEAKER_02 (24:36):
So I know that yellow gold chain, or you know,
gold chain in general is likeour number one category that we
move the most.
Um I I say that we do a lot ofengagement rings.
I would say that is what we'relike known for.
Um custom engagement rings,engage rings, you know, people
just come in and buy.
Um so we're known for that, butwe sell more chain than
(24:59):
anything.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
So interesting.
Well, you know what?
I mean, like if you're theyalways say if you're gonna have
uh you know the nicest house,you might as well pick a nice
neighborhood too.
So I think that's it.
Same in it, same as the chains,the chains.
SPEAKER_02 (25:13):
The chains.
Yeah, it's it's funny.
I was actually gonna ask you,Vincent, um, about something.
So as far as gold goes, we likeI don't have the time to reprice
everything to to you know whatthe market's doing.
But what we did do is ourbiggest men's chains, we did
reprice like three of them justbecause they're so heavy and it
just didn't make sense to leavethem at the price they were.
(25:35):
And I was curious, like what howyou know both of y'all are
really handling that.
SPEAKER_05 (25:40):
I didn't put everything up to market price, I
raised them up 30% from what Ibought them at, and I bought
them, I bought them under 3,000.
So I did I raise them 30% fromthere, but I still have another
30 plus to go if I'm gonna raisethem up the market value.
Yeah, and I just the image Ihave so much inventory, it it
takes a couple days to do that.
So I haven't I haven't beendoing it, but they've been
(26:01):
selling well, and the demand hasdefinitely been steady or gone
up with this gold price.
SPEAKER_06 (26:08):
Yeah, the thing too is as the price goes up, people
um, you know, you hear the hype,people start buying more of it.
Yeah, even so cool,counterintuitive.
Um, you think, oh man, you know,it's turning people away because
of the price, but no, it's likeit's almost it's like the
chasing it, you know?
(26:28):
It's like I gotta get some gold,you know.
SPEAKER_02 (26:31):
It becomes like the exclusive club, you know, that
very few can get into.
SPEAKER_06 (26:37):
It's crazy.
And we've we had um we've had toreprice our wedding bands.
We carry a line of uh reallynice men's wedding bands, and
they're heavy.
And we looked at the price oneday and we had to order it, and
I'm like, oh my gosh, this tagis way too low.
So we had to reprice that.
We've done some gold chains.
(26:58):
Um the finished goods with thegemstones and the diamond
fashion jewelry and stuff.
We haven't uh haven't repricedthat, but it's a little less of
a factor in those items.
But um, yeah, it's definitelysomething we've I guess we
hadn't had to normally do uh inthe past, you know.
(27:19):
Usually sort of sell throughyour inventory and it kind of
keeps up as you reorder it.
But um this time we've we've hadto be more cognizant of that
just because you it it costs alot to replace it when you do
sell it, you know?
It went up so fast.
Yeah, it did.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Now, Anna, um, I know that you guys were doing
some luxury watches at onepoint.
Um everything I see onlineclaims that the luxury watch
market is cooling a little bit.
Are you seeing that at yourstore as well?
Or is that uh is it still goingup?
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (27:53):
We are seeing that as well.
We um we only have a couple, youknow, luxury watches in store
just really to show people thatwe can get them.
I don't stock like a full caseof of luxury watches.
Um so I mean it is definitelygoing down, I would say, for us
at least.
Um yeah, I mean it's it's hardthat you know the pricing and
(28:17):
everything, and there's they canlook online and see that the
prices are all over the place.
So I think it's confusing tothem, and um, yeah, I don't
know, maybe the economy too.
But yeah, definitely seeing thatdecline a little bit.
SPEAKER_05 (28:28):
Do either of you guys uh carry carry any luxury
watches?
Yeah, I do the same thing Annadoes.
I carry a few at a time in thecase, uh in the boxes, just to
show that I could get them.
Uh yeah, it's something that isuh it's never been crazy popular
by us.
It's been pretty steady.
Uh, I could say that the lastcouple months we sold more than
usual, but I will I won't saythat that's a trend or anything.
(28:52):
It was just a few clients thatcame in and asked for them, but
I don't think it's gonna betrending more during Christmas.
I'm gonna keep the same amountin the case.
SPEAKER_06 (28:59):
Yeah, same here, just a handful of examples.
And but I I would say that justgenerally speaking, following
the market, it does seem to becooling or normalizing um from
you know the to kind of the thepeak about a couple years ago.
So um, but yeah, again, it'sit's an interesting market, and
(29:21):
um but there's a lot of peoplewho are really into it.
So, like you said, you gottahave a little offering that way
when that customer comes in, youat least and and have something
to show or talk about, you know,and uh they appreciate that.
SPEAKER_05 (29:36):
There's never a shortage of people asking.
Oh, really?
Actually purchasing is what isthe difference.
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
What an interesting kind of point I love I love
watches, and um yeah, like Ithink it was two years ago, just
had this incrazy run-up, and itseemed like everybody was uh
that was dealing in watches wasdoing super well.
Um, I was just curious aboutthat.
But At the same time, uh, juston the topic, I guess, is I
wanted to talk about men'sjewelry just a little bit
(30:06):
because it's something um Ialmost am kind of having this
thesis where I think that men'sjewelry, the branding of calling
it men's jewelry is almost likeum sort of handcuffing yourself
a little bit.
Whereas like it's like callingsomething like men's clothing.
You could just call it likeclothing, and then you cast like
a little bit of a wider net andmaybe people don't have to like
(30:26):
be pigeonholed into something.
I wanted to ask, sounds likeVincent, for example, you do um,
you know, chains and and thingslike that, which I guess you
could kind of classify as men'sjewelry.
SPEAKER_05 (30:37):
Yeah, do you guys I would I was gonna say if you're
gonna talk about men's jewelry,put it into two categories, uh
okay uh g occasion, gifts foroccasions and fashion.
Uh so gold chains, goldbracelets, uh, those are
milestone gifts.
Uh we're selling those for uhbaptisms, uh uh graduations,
(30:58):
birth, uh, we're selling thosefor major occasions, whereas
fashion jewelry is gonna befirst birthday, like an off
birthday or a Christmas present,and that's gonna be competing
against everything else that youcould get a gift for.
So we do do men's fashion and wedo okay with it.
But men like occasions jewelry,that's the that is always gonna
(31:18):
be strong and steady.
Really interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (31:20):
And Anna and Lee, do you guys carry I guess men's
jewelry, quote unquote?
SPEAKER_02 (31:25):
Yeah, we do.
Um, you know, we have Inox,which uh we have like an open
selling system with Inox andLash Brooks.
We have like a whole men'sdepartment kind of on one side
of our store, and um, all thatis, you know, consumer facing,
they can walk up and touch itall, and that does really,
really well.
We sell a ton of Inox justbecause the price point's so
(31:48):
great, um, all those differentstyles.
Uh, and then we do have, youknow, uh, you know, men's
diamond fashion rings, coloredfashion rings, and then chains
all in another section as well.
I would say as far as like thenumber of SKUs go, we sell more
of the lower price point I knowstuff.
Um, and and similar to whatVincent was saying, those the
(32:10):
gifts that are like the chainsand the bracelets and all that,
that's like gold or silver.
Um, those are more for like bigoccasions.
SPEAKER_06 (32:18):
Yeah, I'd second that too.
Inox does really well for us.
Um and so we, you know, we'refully stocked and ready to go.
Shout out to the guys at Inox.
Great guys to work with.
Um, but no, their stuff is niceand um, you know, men love it.
And when they come in for theysee things, you know, maybe
(32:39):
they're coming to buy somethingfor their significant other, but
they say, Oh man, look at thatbracelet.
I kind of like that.
Just give me that, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (32:46):
Yeah, I've always heard heard that it's like it's
like uh like a play pen almost,is like you have like a corner,
and then you know, they're uhthe significant other is picking
something out, and then theywalk over and they're just like
picking up necklaces, and it'slike, oh, there you go, and
found them and got got hooked.
SPEAKER_05 (33:02):
Well, yeah, they pick something up, they like it,
and they're like, Oh, it's onlyyou know$75?
Yeah, it's done, add-on, it solditself.
SPEAKER_01 (33:09):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, I guess let's talk aboutlike the the floor a little bit.
I always wonder, do you guys doany like kickoff ahead of the
holidays?
Because this is so important.
It's like you said, 30% of youruh sales are gonna come in the
next uh two months.
Do you guys ever do like uh, forexample, in restaurants, they do
(33:29):
a like a like a wait staffmeeting where they like talk and
they talk about the product andthey uh kind of like maybe not
do family dinner, but they dolike a like a planning session,
like a little hoorah, and thenthey uh kick it off.
Do you guys do that with yourwith your sales staff?
Or I mean you guys are it'sanother day technically for you.
So is it kind of morerun-of-the-mill for them?
(33:50):
What do you do?
SPEAKER_02 (33:52):
We actually just did a quarter four kickoff party for
the first time.
SPEAKER_03 (33:57):
Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_02 (33:57):
Um well, first time since Oscar and I have owned the
business, you know, since 2016.
I'm sure his dad did that yearsago, but it was so much fun.
I rented a private room at arestaurant here in town.
And um, yeah, it was so fun.
I get we gave them all um acruise package to like kick it
off because we did that eventearlier in the year.
So they were like just soexcited about that.
(34:20):
And then we I basically madelike a PowerPoint of October,
November, and December executionand like how we were gonna get
there.
And they all were so pumped up.
I mean, we I have like um funlittle um prizes they can win
every month, like if we hitcertain, you know, objectives.
So it was a blast, and Oscar andI decided we're definitely gonna
(34:42):
keep doing that because I thinkit really set the tone.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (34:46):
I'm just taking notes over here.
Anna's like spitting fire, likeit's gonna be hard to follow
stuff, man.
It's like man, it's gonna be alittle hard to follow.
SPEAKER_05 (34:55):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Anna's comment
there.
SPEAKER_06 (34:58):
No, for sure.
And um, that's a great that's agreat thing.
And just keeping your your teamhappy and like engaged and
excited is just you know, it'sit can be a struggle at times,
especially when you have somereal veteran people, but um
anything we can do to um keepthem motivated and engaged,
(35:19):
especially for this really vitaltime of year.
Um, yeah, it's it's uh it'salways best to keep these, keep
your people happy, you know?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (35:31):
I wouldn't say I do like a like a singular kickoff
to for the holiday.
We're always in the morningtogether talking what we're
gonna do, but there will be acouple times a week what I will
show like more than once what wesold last year and what I want
to focus on this year.
Uh, but now I need to have aparty and give my employees some
gifts.
Private room and everything.
SPEAKER_02 (35:51):
We can uh Vincent, we can talk later about all
that.
I can give you some ideas.
Yeah.
unknown (35:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (35:58):
Team members are gonna hear the podcast, be like,
where's our party?
SPEAKER_01 (36:01):
Uh uh, what about availability?
Uh are you guys going to do youdo you open seven days a week
and like all through uhDecember?
Is that kind of uh the strategy?
Uh most people are doing that, Iguess.
SPEAKER_05 (36:16):
Uh the last couple of weeks up until the holiday
I'll be seven days.
Uh we're typically closed uhMondays and uh Sundays and
Mondays, but uh cob BlackFriday, we will be open Mondays
again.
So we will extend the hours.
It's always useful to do that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (36:34):
Yeah, we do some extended hours.
Um uh those last two weeksreally.
We'll we'll go a little bitlonger in the evening.
Um, we'll open up usually theone or two Sundays before
Christmas, kind of depending onhow the calendar falls.
Yeah.
Um and um, but we're open Mondaythrough Saturday, uh, generally
(36:54):
speaking.
But it's changed a little bitover the years.
I would say uh we used to beopen like from Thanksgiving
seven days a week tillChristmas, but we started
finding that those Sundays,those first couple of Sundays,
just weren't very productive.
A lot of times we ended up justkind of catching up on things we
hadn't had a chance to do yet.
(37:15):
The shopping season seems tostart earlier, and I mean I know
we've probably talked about thisover the last year or two, but
um so it's it seems to be alittle more spread out.
It's not as concentrated likeright at the end.
Um, I don't know if anyone elseis experiencing that, but that's
kind of what we've beenexperiencing.
So it does make it a little biteasier um uh as people start
(37:38):
maybe shopping you know beforeThanksgiving or you know,
holiday time.
You know, November 1st theystart playing the Christmas
music on the radio, you know.
So it's don't stop um yeah,right.
But um so it does seem to haveuh changed a little in that
regard in the last few years.
SPEAKER_05 (37:58):
The shopping season definitely has started sooner,
and yes, it's become less cutconcentrated, condensed in those
last couple of weeks to thepoint where we haven't opened on
Christmas Eve, which is amazing.
Oh, we haven't needed to.
I remember the last year that wedid, we just said next year
we're not gonna open.
We'll work around it.
SPEAKER_02 (38:17):
So for us, we are closed Sunday, Monday throughout
the year.
I think that's like what Vincentsaid too.
Um, what we're gonna do thisyear is we are going to be open
on all Mondays in November.
And then Black Friday weekend iswhen we start being open on
Sundays.
So we will be all seven days inDecember.
(38:38):
Um so it's kind of a slowprogression to being open seven
days.
Um we do an hour later, so we'renormally 10 to 5, we'll be open
10 to 6.
And um I would say I agree alittle bit for us.
I mean, we're already seeingpeople shop for Christmas right
now.
Um so I agree that it'sdefinitely started earlier.
(39:01):
Um, I think it's like prettyconsistent in the middle, and
then the last two weeks areinsane for us at least.
So um that's kind of how it isfor us.
SPEAKER_01 (39:12):
Now to get into your guys' business, though.
I I guess how often are you asthe owners there?
Um, are you do you I don't thinkit's healthy or productive to
work 30 days or 60 days in arow?
I just don't think that ourbodies are really made for that.
It's hard to keep that kind ofspark.
Um, but some people do.
(39:34):
Uh, do you will you findyourself there every single day
of December?
Uh you know, every single dayyou're open-ish.
SPEAKER_02 (39:41):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (39:42):
Really?
SPEAKER_05 (39:42):
Every single is it uh I mean, I'll try to leave
early, but I will be there everyday.
SPEAKER_01 (39:48):
Will you rotate off of like the the sales floor and
like be in the back kind ofplaying support, or is it still
just in the front being able tohelp sell?
SPEAKER_05 (39:58):
So I'm like I'm also a bench jeweler too, so I'll be
doing all the extra jobs that mybench my two bench jewelers that
we hired can't do.
So I'll hopefully be able tocatch up on jobs with them.
Ah playing support, that's supercool.
SPEAKER_06 (40:14):
For me, for sure, the last you know, two or three
weeks, depending on how it'sgoing.
We're staffed up pretty well.
Um and uh we try to let everyonehave a day off, you know, as
long as we can uh in the season.
Um but I I'll I'll be here.
(40:35):
Like said, maybe if I if I dotake half a day or something
like that, you know, maybe earlymid-December.
But um, you know, it's I tellyou, you get a little worn down,
but I I don't know, just afterso many Christmas seasons, you
know, it just it's just what youdo, you know.
You just go to work.
(40:56):
You go to work, you make thepeople happy, and and then you
know, you try and uh when whenit's all over, you try and spend
as much time with the family asyou can, you know.
Um but yeah, that's it, man.
SPEAKER_05 (41:09):
Kind of I I try to work the everyday because I
don't I I don't give myemployees extra days to work.
That's pretty much it.
I'll like I'll take the brunt ofthat because I just want to keep
them level headed.
unknown (41:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:24):
We do the same thing, like they'll all get days
off, but Oscar and I, you know,we'll work with the shifts that
no one else wants to or can.
And um and and our job too, likeI know you asked about how much
you know we were gonna be on thefloor.
My big thing that I do in theback, I mean, I handle all the
money, I order all theinventory.
(41:44):
So the biggest thing like overthe next two months will be
reordering fast sellers umquickly, right?
Because we're gonna sell a lotof them.
So um I'll be on the floor, Iwould say, you know, here and
there, definitely Friday andSaturdays.
I try to like commit my entiredays to being out there
observing, helping.
And um, the rest of the week,you know, I try to get all the
(42:04):
fast sellers done, get thatinventory in, check it in, get
it back out, which is a longprocess when you're talking
about a lot of items.
SPEAKER_01 (42:11):
So cool.
I I they always say that that'sthe number one indicator.
Whenever you talk to Lenny fromthe edge, uh, he always says the
number one indicator for thesuccess of a store is going to
be do they order their fastsellers?
Do they reorder in quickly too?
SPEAKER_02 (42:27):
Oh, it's huge.
I mean, and I didn't even knowlike we should be doing that
until we became Edge RetailAcademy clients.
And now that we've done it, itis insane to me.
I'm like, wow.
I mean, I've sold like six ofthose, and before I hadn't
reordered it for six years.
I mean, it's just it's mindblowing.
So it's a it's very important.
And um, yeah, that's why like medoing that, like I have to be in
(42:51):
the back and get all that done.
So cool.
SPEAKER_01 (42:53):
And maybe just to wrap things up, let's say when
the when it's all done, do youguys open on Boxing Day or even
like what we say, like the theugliest uh six days of the year,
which is 20 the 26th through the31st?
Do you guys open on those days?
Or uh some people just take theentire week like just completely
(43:15):
shut down, they open back up onNew Year's Day.
Is that what do you guys do forthat?
SPEAKER_05 (43:19):
So I um when I said it's not concentrated till
Christmas, it's like the sixdays after Christmas Day are a
nightmare.
Crazy.
It's crazy, and it's all it'svery little returns, it's just a
bunch of people off of work andcoming in.
So yeah, we are absolutely openthe day after Christmas because
(43:41):
it gets busy, very busy.
SPEAKER_06 (43:43):
Yeah, I would say that um the only time we've
really closed any extra days islike maybe if Christmas is on a
Friday or Saturday and we mightjust not come back till Monday,
you know.
But like Vin said, man, it's itgets pretty wild.
Um, I don't know how manywatches we adjust uh in those
six days, but it's a lot.
(44:05):
Um and so, but we do sometimeswe'll take an extra day, uh or
we have been in the past fewyears around New Year's Day.
Um so we'll take New Year's Dayoff, close a little early New
Year's Eve, and then take theday after off.
Um But yeah, the the that weekin between, like you said, a lot
(44:27):
of people are off work and youstill sell a lot too.
Like people get money, orthey're like, you know, they get
um, you know, they just like,hey, I just I just want to buy
this, you know.
I'm just feeling good.
It's holiday time, you know, I'mgonna treat myself or whatever.
Or so um, yeah, we do so we tryto if the calendar cooperates,
(44:48):
we might take an extra day justto get a break, but um, yeah,
it's pretty busy usually.
It's awesome.
SPEAKER_05 (44:54):
And for me to last five years, there's always been
more than one, like at least twoengagement ring sales, those
days in between Christmas andNew Year's.
No way.
So I I I want to keep that trendgoing.
So it's I wanna, I'm hoping forit.
SPEAKER_06 (45:07):
You want to have that sort of spontaneous New
Year's proposal, you know, yeah,that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02 (45:12):
We are the exact same way.
We do so much business thatthose days after Christmas
leading up to New Year's.
Um, and and we've done similarthings that Lee said in the past
where like if it lines up theright way, we'll try to like at
least be closed the 26th as wellto give our team just time to
sleep.
SPEAKER_03 (45:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (45:31):
Um, but I'm looking at the calendar right now, and
Christmas is on a Thursday thisyear.
So uh the 26th is a Friday.
So we're gonna have to be open.
It's gonna be we're gonna be sobusy.
Like that'll be a big day.
People get money for Christmas,they want to spend it.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_01 (45:46):
Yep.
Man, it's so cool to hear thatyou guys have such uh are so
dialed in on you know the rhythmof your of the business year and
your store, uh, that you guysknow these things ahead of time.
I mean, this we're recordingthis on October 24th, and so
you're making these decisionsmore than two months ahead of
(46:06):
time.
And it's just so exciting to tohear.
I'm so stoked to to watch theorders pour in from the
websites, but also, you know,our our retailers, we always
laugh.
Like, this is the busiest timeof the year for you guys, and we
just try our best not to talk toyou guys.
Like, it's like, okay, you guysjust do your own thing, get into
the grind.
Um, anything that, you know, inwrapping up, um, it sounds like
(46:29):
everyone is kind of feelingready and and optimistic about
the whole thing.
Any kind of closing thoughtsbefore we uh before we head out
and I'll let you guys get backto work?
SPEAKER_05 (46:38):
Shout out to Punchmark for my digital
marketing and my website becausethat's one of the biggest drives
of of business that we get.
SPEAKER_01 (46:46):
Ah, I appreciate that, Vincent.
Yeah, I second that.
I second that.
SPEAKER_02 (46:50):
Yeah, shout out to Hope.
SPEAKER_06 (46:52):
Yeah, shout out to Hope.
Yeah.
No, for real.
It's just so, man, it just makesbusiness so much better when you
have an awesome website, youhave a storefront for the world,
um, and nobody does it betterthan Punchmark.
I gotta say that.
Uh we're um, no, but look, it'sgreat to be on here.
(47:14):
I'm telling you, um, I learnedso much from all of you, and uh
it's just I hope that uh you alland everybody listening, you all
have great holiday seasons.
And uh yeah, it's just great tobe here.
Thanks, Mike.
SPEAKER_05 (47:28):
You too, Lee.
It was great to see all of youguys.
I love seeing you guys, and Ican't wait to see you guys at
the next show.
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Show show season coming right around the corner.
Oh my gosh, crazy.
All right, I think maybe we'llend it right there.
I appreciate you all.
Thank you all again.
Uh, I love do having theseconversations.
I learn something every singletime.
And uh, listeners, I hope youlearned something too.
Uh, you guys can learn from allthree of these people.
I'll have all their show notesin the in the links below.
(47:55):
Um, everybody Vince's gonna putthis on his Instagram.
Oh man, wait, one thing.
Vincent, your the AI video aboutyou eating the gold strands made
me laugh harder than anything.
I was told somebody about thatthe other day.
SPEAKER_02 (48:11):
That was amazing.
SPEAKER_05 (48:13):
Happy Italian Heritage Month.
SPEAKER_01 (48:18):
All right, well, thanks everybody.
We'll let you on your way.
Thanks so much.
Have a good rest of your day.
Bye.
All right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week my guests were VincentSpilatro from Orezzo Jewelers,
Anna Barnett from BarnettJewelers, and Lee Elgin from
(48:40):
Elgin Find Jewelry.
Thanks so much for joining me.
This episode was brought to youby Punchmark and produced and
hosted by me, Michael Burpo.
This episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Ross
Cockham.
Don't forget to leave usfeedback on punchmark.com slash
loop and leave us a five-starrating on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts.
It's the best way to help thepodcast grow.
(49:00):
Thanks, we'll be back next weekTuesday with another episode.
Cheers.
Bye.
Welcome to In the Loop.
What is up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening to Inthe Loop.
This week I have a retailerroundtable, and this is a
popular series where I have uhretail jewelers on to discuss
what their store is lookinglike, how they're preparing for
(00:21):
the holidays, and uh whatthey're thinking about going
into the most important time ofthe year.
I have on Vincent Spilacho fromArezzo Jewelers, Anna Barnett
from Barnett Jewelers, and LeeElgin from Elgin Find Jewelry.
And we're talking all about howthey're prepping for the
holidays and if they're runningsales.
It's a really interestingconversation because they seem
(00:43):
to be learning from each otherand uh it's a really cool
conversation.
I hope you enjoy.
Cheers!
SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
This episode is brought to you by Punchmark, the
jewelry industry's favoritewebsite platform and digital
growth agency.
Our mission reaches way beyondtechnology.
With decades of experience andlong-lasting industry
relationships, Punchmark enablesjewelry businesses to flourish
in any marketplace.
We consider our clients ourfriends, as many of them have
(01:15):
been friends way before becomingclients.
Punchmark's own success comesfrom the fact that we have a
much deeper need and obligationto help our friends succeed.
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(01:37):
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And now back to the show.
SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
What's up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
I'm joined by Anna Barnett fromBarnett Jewel Jewelers, uh, Lee
Algin from Algin's Fine Jewelry,and Vince Spilaccio from Arezzo
Fine Jewelry.
The main goal with this one isI'd like to talk about what it
(02:17):
is that you guys are doing foryour stores, other than just
opening up the unlocking thedoors and letting people in to
buy some beautiful jewelry.
Uh, we all know that if you wereto do that, the holidays would
kind of, you know, handle someof the marketing for you.
It's kind of built into themarketing calendar.
But I kind of wanted to ask,maybe we can start with uh
(02:39):
Vincent.
Can you just kind of give me anidea?
What is your mindset going intothe holidays this year?
SPEAKER_05 (02:45):
Well, this year, I'm I'm hoping it's going to be a
good year.
Uh we we definitely bought alot, prepared a lot for the
year, uh, gold being the pricethat it's at.
We're very fortunate to alreadyhave a stock of it.
So we're not planning on buyingany more of that uh kind of that
kind of stock for our store.
(03:05):
But um getting prepared, uh, Ihired a new employee to actually
help me with the marketingaspect.
I am reaching out to my VIPs.
I haven't yet, but I will.
And uh I will have uh twodifferent sales.
Uh one will be like ageneralized sale, and the other
one will be um focusing on mysuper high-end product because I
(03:27):
feel like this year is not theyear for the super high-end
stuff.
So I wanted to clear out what Ihave because I do have a lot of
that inventory.
And then I want this year to bethe last year I actually have a
sale in the holidays because Iwant to put I want to move my
sales to different parts of theyear because we're getting the
customers anyway.
So I want to see if that is uhI'll I'll test it out next year
(03:49):
to see if that works.
But yeah, this year I'll behaving a couple sales and uh
next year, hopefully, I won't behaving them during the holidays.
SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
That's so interesting.
I love that because, like, inthe end, if you're gonna have
the people walking through, ifyou discount something, let's
just say 10%, theoreticallyyou're just kind of wasting 10%,
right?
SPEAKER_05 (04:08):
So yeah, that's that's an interesting kind of
thing.
My my mindset now is my uhinventory is pretty well priced
because I haven't raised itsince this huge increase of the
gold price.
So I will probably be doing thatcloser to holiday.
Um, I did raise it before a fewmonths ago, but I haven't raised
it again.
So my my inventory is alreadywell priced.
It would be the discount priceif if I put it up to market
(04:31):
price today.
SPEAKER_01 (04:32):
Oh, interesting.
And what about you, Anna?
Um, what's your mindset kind ofgoing into this part of the
year?
We were just talking about is itlike exciting?
Is it uh dreading?
I don't know.
What what are your kind of uhwhere's your head at going into
this year?
SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
Yeah, yeah.
First of all, thank you so muchfor having me on this.
Um, we are so excited about therest of the year.
Uh, we've got a lot going on.
Um, this year we've we've kindof like switched our agenda to
giving things, giving like afree gift instead of doing sales
um and partnering with EdgeRetail Academy.
(05:05):
We really want to like move awayfrom discounting.
So in May, we gave awayfive-day, four-night cruises.
And for Christmas, we're doingum half carat lab gram studs for
Black Friday weekend.
So when they spend a thousanddollars, they get a free pair of
those studs.
So I'm very excited about that.
(05:25):
We've never done anything likethis.
It's always been like, you know,come in for 50% off.
And we really, like I said, wereally want to get away with
from that.
So I'm very excited to see howthat goes.
We're sending out postcards withdrive retail for that, and then
I'm doing um digital marketingwith hope uh with you guys.
Um that's that's going reallywell.
(05:45):
Uh, she's gonna do some emailsfor me as well.
So very, very excited aboutthat.
We um we also do ladies' nightevery year, and we usually have
one, um, meaning like all theladies get invited to one night,
but after talking with um theFalls family, Falls jewelers,
they actually do two ladies'nights.
SPEAKER_03 (06:07):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
Yeah, so they do that because it like it
obviously gives people twodifferent days they could come,
where like, you know, if theywere out of town for one, they
could come to the other one.
Um, and why that was soappeasing to me was because when
we have one lady's night,there's so many people in our
store you can hardly walk.
And it's overwhelming for mysales team, it's overwhelming
(06:32):
for the the customers becausethey can hardly move.
And we really want to be able togive everyone some more
dedicated time.
So I'm actually gonna split thealphabet up and do, you know, A
through M last names are gonnabe invited to one night, M
through Z is gonna be adifferent night.
So um, yeah, really collaboratedwith Caleb on that one to get
two nights going.
(06:52):
And I'm excited to see how thatturns out.
That's always a those events arealways great because women will
self-purchase and they'll fillout wish lists.
So it it's always a big success.
So very excited about that, andvery excited about giving away
some studs and seeing what kindof business that drums up.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
So cool.
Man, really interesting to hearthat you can just uh that small
like tinkering, like just thelittle small tweak, can make
such a big impact.
Is when you do your wish list,this is maybe a silly question.
Are you having them fill outphysical, like um like pen and
paper type wish lists, or areyou having them do like a
digital version?
(07:30):
What how do you execute that?
SPEAKER_02 (07:32):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So it is a physical wish list.
Um, they fill out the top part,you know, is all their
information, the second part istheir spouse or significant
other or whoever's gonna beshopping for them, and then we
um, you know, put the SKUnumbers down on there.
What we usually do is we willput all of those into like a
clear container and we dodrawings throughout the night,
(07:54):
you know, for ladies' night.
Oh, fun.
So it's yeah, it's enticing forthem because if they fill one
out, you know, they go into thedrawing, they can win something
that night.
And then what we do when theevent is over is we actually put
them all into the edge so thatno matter who comes in and shops
for that person, um, whicheveremployee's helping, they can
literally just pull up theaccount and it's all right there
in edge.
Wow.
(08:15):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:16):
That's it makes it so so uh so simple and also
effective that you can also, youknow, kind of have a shelf life
to it.
But and Lee and yourself, um, Iknow that you were talking, uh I
talked with you previously aboutyou know getting excited and
also marketing throughout theentire year.
Uh so this part of the yearseems like it's kind of the
(08:37):
continuation of that.
Um, are you doing anythingdifferent, kind of going into
the final push, or are you justkeeping the foot down on the gas
sort of thing?
SPEAKER_06 (08:45):
Yeah, hey, thanks.
It's uh great to be here.
Yeah, we're we're keeping ourfoot on the gas for sure.
Um, we've got our sort ofmarketing plan in place.
Um and we'll uh we'll crank backup some video ads on like um
streaming TV and things likethat.
We did it last year.
It seemed to get a good responseand had some good metrics, and
(09:08):
so we and we had a good seasonlast year, so we're gonna
allocate some budget for that ontop of the other digital
marketing efforts and things wehad.
And you know, and it it's alwaysuh this time of year is super
busy, we're getting ready forthe holidays.
Um, I love it.
It's the best time of the year.
Uh I don't dread it one bit.
Nice.
We're so excited, you know.
(09:30):
Um we is and as far as likesales and things, I'm kind of in
the camp with Vincent, you know,in the last year or two, we've
sort of gotten away from the thediscounting messaging uh around
the holidays, um, moving moretowards just gift guides.
You know, we're gonna puttogether a lot of gift guides um
that we'll have um landing pageson the website and things like
(09:53):
that.
And then um now we did just havea big six-hour, sixty off like
nice clearance sale and wasreally successful, so that's
gonna take care of thediscounting, I think, for a
while, but it was it workedwell.
We got we moved a lot of umthings we've had just a little
too long, so it was it wassuccessful.
(10:15):
But no, we're we're gonna keepour foot on the gas, man, and uh
finish the year on a high notefor sure.
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
So cool.
No, Vincent and Anna, just outof curiosity, did you guys uh
did you guys hear thissuggestion about getting away
from discounts?
Or is that something that comeslike internally, like you're
making your own strategy, or didsomeone advise you to move away
from sales?
Because it sounds like you kindof both developed that strategy
(10:43):
independently.
Um I'm always curious, is itlike a data-driven approach to
looking at your own sales fromyears past?
Or um is this like, ah, weshould try something new?
What does that kind of decisionmaking look like?
SPEAKER_05 (10:55):
For me, I could tell you 100%.
Someone told me.
Oh, really?
When they told me it cli itclicked.
And uh, yeah, I was like, ofcourse, of course, like that's
that's silly of us.
And I wanted to say the reasonwhy I'm still like I didn't want
to have a sale this year, butthe reason why we are still is
because we carry that Pandoraline and we are having a
closeout sale for them, so thatwe're gonna bundle up our sale
(11:18):
by getting rid of that line.
And then post that we're havinga trunk show for a trunk show
for a new silver line that we'regonna come in to replace it.
So that's very exciting.
Very exciting.
SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
Yeah, so for us, um, someone told me as well.
Um, we're clients of Edge RetailAcademy.
Um, Amy is our business coach,and before that, Stephen Barnes
was, and and he said the samething.
Um, so the biggest thing islike, you know, the expectation
that once something's on sale,they get a discount, they come
in next time, they're gonnaalways expect whatever they buy
to be on sale.
(11:50):
So we obviously want to moveaway from that.
The other thing is that we usethe IJO pricing guidelines.
So everything that we have outis already priced for the
margins that we should begetting on every single piece.
So, I mean, we really shouldn'tbe discounting, right?
Because it's priced at what weshould get for that piece.
So it's really just moving awayand getting the margins that we
(12:13):
need, you know, on the items.
So um, yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (12:17):
Adding to Vincent's point about, you know, a lot of
our inventory is probably pricedgood anyway.
Uh just with how you know thesurge we've had in gold in the
last six months, so uh reallythe whole year.
Um, so it's kind of like um uhyou know they're getting a good
deal versus having to maybecustomize it or special order it
(12:40):
at current pricing, currentgold.
So um that you know, that's uhanother reason to kind of, you
know, and then even offer thatto the customer as a as a reason
to buy is like, look, if we sellthis and have to order it, you
know, it might cost more, youknow, urgency.
SPEAKER_01 (12:56):
That was like kind of that question is uh I always
wonder, like, are retailers orsorry, are customers actually
paying attention to that?
Because I'm always like, I'lltalk to my friends, like, oh,
did you know that the price ofgold is just like increasingly
breaking records and it's likeinsane?
And 90% of my friends are like,I have no idea, or honestly,
maybe even 100% of my friendshave no idea about the price of
(13:18):
gold, even the ones that likethey might might be able uh pay
it paying attention to it.
Do you ever have thatconversation about like this is
an investment?
Like you're buying uh a largequantity of gold at a time when
it's important to be buyinggold, or is that conversation
not really being had withshoppers?
SPEAKER_05 (13:34):
So I sell gold, like that's one of our bread and
butter is gold here.
We sell solid gold chains,pendants, earrings, everything
gold.
And I feel like I have thatconversation several times a
day.
I've customers know they know,but they're blissfully ignorant
to it because I mean it's gold,so it's already expensive, and
(13:55):
they think I'm just increasingthe price.
But it's uh I explain it everyday.
The price of gold's fourthousand dollars.
Oh, oh, is that expensive?
I'm like, well, it doubled thisyear.
Um almost, it almost doubledthis year.
So whatever you bought last yearcost twice as much this year.
Oh, I can't believe that.
And then you go and you try toshow it's it is a broad concept
(14:17):
to most people.
So I do have that conversationevery day.
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
Yeah, look at the chart.
Like you can see, we're notmaking up this number.
Like, this is literally theprice almost, I think,
everywhere in the world at thispoint.
It's like it's it's an it'suniversal.
SPEAKER_06 (14:31):
Yeah, our customers tend to uh some of them are sort
of in tune with it, and otherswe talk about, um, talk about it
with them, and it's uh it'scrazy what's happened with the
gold price.
And um, you know, it's uh it'salways hard to predict what's
gonna happen, but um it seems tobe um it doesn't seem to be
(14:54):
coming down anytime soon.
Of course, the minute I say thatit'll crash.
Knock on wood.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, the minute I go buy abunch of coins, then it's you
know, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
That's really interesting.
I uh I I think gold is one ofthose things that is, I feel
like has the propensity to umbreak out of like our little
echo chamber of jewelry.
Um for example, I thought thatlab grown diamonds would be that
catalyst for like peoplesuddenly taking an interest in
not suddenly taking an increasedinterest in the jewelry world.
(15:28):
Um, like, hey, did you know thatthe that diamonds are like being
able to be made and like theprice is like fluctuating?
Um, no one, none of my friendsthat are not in jewelry uh seem
to uh be aware of that kind ofdiscourse.
But then with gold, I I thinkthat that one is it's on the
news all the time and it's uhit's one of the tickers, you
(15:49):
know, it's always there.
Um, I didn't know if that is ourlab groans being spoken about
and how the price is kind ofincreasingly going down.
Um to Yeah, but every but that'ssomething everyone knows.
SPEAKER_05 (15:59):
Like that I don't have the conversation.
They they come and they alreadyknow.
Like yesterday, customer came inand never met before.
They're like I and their quotewas, I can't believe how cheap
lab groans have gotten.
SPEAKER_01 (16:09):
Oh, really?
Oh, interesting.
Um, and I guess back to thisdiscussion around the holidays.
What's our thoughts on um, Ithink it might have been Anna or
Vincent was mentioning reachingout to your VIPs?
And this is one of thosediscussions that um I actually
have started to take to heartfrom having spoken to people on
in the loop uh when it comes tomy own paintings.
(16:30):
I used to be kind of shy aboutthe ideas of um, I mean,
affectionately referred to themas whales, you know, these uh
clients that are VIPs that spenda fair amount of money with you,
uh, whether it's because theyreally like you or they have a
lot of available and liquid, youknow, money.
Um, do you guys lean into themarketing towards these uh small
(16:52):
number of VIPs or whales?
Is that something that you'reyou actively are trying to do,
or does it just happennaturally?
SPEAKER_05 (16:59):
Um, I know I think I talked to Anna about this.
Uh, she was really good at this.
I I do, but I'm trying to bebetter at it.
Uh, I feel like we did a goodjob last year really getting uh
used to the my not me doing it,my employees doing it.
Um Lee mentioned that he didthat 60 off, 60 percent, 60%
(17:21):
off, six hour sale.
And James Pork gives you ascript, and one year we did it
and the we used the script andit wasn't successful.
And last year we used our ownscript and it was wildly
successful.
And so I feel if we uh if wekeep that momentum going, if we
start calling do the same thingwe did last year without the big
(17:41):
sale, we'll still have the samesuccess.
SPEAKER_06 (17:43):
Interesting.
Yeah, and we we reached out toour VIPs for the sale, a lot of
them, and um a good number ofthem came in and were
appreciative of the to let themknow, you know.
Um and we've even we even hadsome where it was like uh you
know, with the discount theygot, it was we we were worried
that maybe we're pulling forwardsome business from Christmas,
(18:07):
but a lot of people ended upjust saying, Well, I'm gonna get
this today.
And then something else later,I'm gonna put this on hold for
Christmas.
And we went ahead and gave themthe price, you know, and it's
like, look, just put you.
So they we've ended up movingtwo multiple pieces, um, and
then also it's set up to wherethose sales will count around
(18:27):
Christmas time.
So it's um it was kind of awin-win.
But outside of that, yeah, justthat direct outreach, people
really appreciate it.
Yeah, most people and are justsuper, you know, responsive to
it.
And um we we we try not to relyon those sales sort of to like
(18:48):
make the year or make theseason, but man, it really helps
when they come through, youknow.
Yeah, it does.
It's it feels good when you havethat, you know, five-figure sale
and you're like, yeah, come on.
SPEAKER_05 (19:00):
And I feel like once you start reaching out, it it's
you're uncomfortable becauseyou're afraid of the response
you might get, but vast majorityis positive.
You everyone's gonna get a fewpeople just hang up on you, no
big deal.
But honestly, the vast majorityof people are very, you know,
happy to hear from you.
So that's what makes it better.
(19:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
What about you, Anna?
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
Yeah, so I don't know that our messages
necessarily say we rely on them,but I cater to them so that I
get the business.
Uh, and what I mean by that is Icall I have this special list of
people, I call them my conciergepeople.
I drive jewelry to these people.
Um, Jacksonville is a huge city.
(19:46):
So that's so cool.
Um yeah, so there's a couple zipcodes in our city that are like
45, 50 minutes from our jewelrystore, hiring clients.
Um, they literally, they'redoctors, most of them are
doctors, uh, friends of thefamily.
Um, and they will, you know,I'll reach out to them.
How can I help shop, you know,for your wife this this year?
(20:07):
So they'll send me some thingsand I'll send pictures back and
forth, and then we'll decide onsomething and I will take it to
them.
Um, so those are all you know,10,000, I would say, plus sales.
And um, I'm happy to do that.
I love doing it.
Uh, it's fun to get out of theoffice and and go take that.
But yeah, so that's how I meanobviously we have customers that
(20:28):
spend that that come in, but um,that's like a special little
thing that I do, and I make alittle a box.
Um, I think you know, KyleMaynard has seen it.
I know Vincent has seen it, butI I put in all of our branded
stuff, um, our signature scent,um, you know, jewelry cleaner.
I make it nice and fun, somechampagne, and I take that like
with the gift every year thatthey pick out.
(20:50):
So um, yeah, so I love that thatconcierge list that I cater to.
Um, and then of course, youknow, the ladies' night and
stuff like that.
There's some big people thatcome into those events and stuff
like that, but but the specialthing is is really hand
delivering those pieces.
SPEAKER_05 (21:06):
That gift box that Anna makes is incredible.
SPEAKER_02 (21:10):
It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01 (21:11):
Go on about the signature scent.
Is that like a perfume that youguys like built or what what is
that?
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
So that is through Air Essentials.
Um, I know they're in IJO, Idon't know if they're probably
in RJO too, but um, yeah, it's acompany that they actually um
they have like tons of scentsthat are already made, but they
will brand it to your company.
And so they've got some bigaccounts, like they do the
Waldorf Astoria Hotel scent, um,which we think is the same scent
(21:41):
that Barney Jewelers has becausewe went on a trip and we like
walked in the hotel and we werelike, whoa, this smells like
Barnet Jewelers.
Um, so yeah, they have some bigaccounts.
The scents are all amazing, andyou can just I think you can
like completely cust, you know,do a custom one if you want to.
But we picked one that wasalready made and branded it to
our store.
And so we have the scent in adiffuser in the store.
(22:03):
So you walk in, you immediatelysmell it.
It's made for a big space.
Yeah, and then they can purchaseit in a um diffuser for their
home or a room spray.
Um, and people do buy those, butI I give a lot of those away to
our VIP clients.
SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
Wow, that's branding on a whole nother level when you
think about it.
Because what they always saybranding is just um having a
signature for every sense, andthey always I guess that we do
always kind of forget, uh, likeyou know, the uh sense of smell.
And yes, what a reallyfascinating way to extend it.
A plus, good, good, good show.
(22:39):
Punchmark's gonna get asignature scent pretty soon, I'm
pretty sure.
That's that's awesome.
All right, guys.
So I kind of also want to talkabout uh trends.
And I'm a big fan of jewelrytrends, but I see it from a very
different lens than you guys inthat I'm I feel like I'm
watching uh just through ascreen at this point.
Where I live is man, I wish Icould just bring you guys here
(23:01):
and have you guys see it's veryuh very redneck.
No one wears uh really jewelry,but what they do wear is really
interesting to me.
So a lot of um gold hoops and alot of uh like just gold jewelry
in general is very popular uphere because it has to be
removable because a lot ofpeople work with their hands,
very blue collar.
So if you have like um you knowa bracelet, you need to be able
(23:24):
to take the bracelet off uhregularly.
Otherwise, uh you won't be ableto get onto some of these job
sites if you have like um, youknow, a Cuban link and you can't
take it off, sort of thing.
Uh Vincent, you mentioned thatyour signature is or your bread
and butter is uh is goldjewelry.
Um Lee and Anna, what do youguys have like kind of a bread
and butter that you sort of leaninto, like that you're known
(23:45):
for?
SPEAKER_06 (23:46):
Well, I would say that we um, you know, we try and
follow the trends so much.
We're doing a lot of goldjewelry too.
Uh, you know, we've started toum stock more and more of it.
Um, but in the fashion jewelry,you know, we do uh uh yellow
gold, yellow gold, uh bridal,yellow gold fashion, you know,
(24:07):
even a lot of two-tones comingback um in in fashion.
A lot of people mixing metalsand uh stacking things.
So it's those trends seem to beum carrying on in our market.
Um so and I know it's different,you know, depending kind of can
(24:29):
vary a little bit depending onwhere you are uh in the country,
but that's kind of what's beenworking for us.
SPEAKER_02 (24:36):
So I know that yellow gold chain, or you know,
gold chain in general is likeour number one category that we
move the most.
Um I I say that we do a lot ofengagement rings.
I would say that is what we'relike known for.
Um custom engagement rings,engage rings, you know, people
just come in and buy.
Um so we're known for that, butwe sell more chain than
(24:59):
anything.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
So interesting.
Well, you know what?
I mean, like if you're theyalways say if you're gonna have
uh you know the nicest house,you might as well pick a nice
neighborhood too.
So I think that's it.
Same in it, same as the chains,the chains.
SPEAKER_02 (25:13):
The chains.
Yeah, it's it's funny.
I was actually gonna ask you,Vincent, um, about something.
So as far as gold goes, we likeI don't have the time to reprice
everything to to you know whatthe market's doing.
But what we did do is ourbiggest men's chains, we did
reprice like three of them justbecause they're so heavy and it
just didn't make sense to leavethem at the price they were.
(25:35):
And I was curious, like what howyou know both of y'all are
really handling that.
SPEAKER_05 (25:40):
I didn't put everything up to market price, I
raised them up 30% from what Ibought them at, and I bought
them, I bought them under 3,000.
So I did I raise them 30% fromthere, but I still have another
30 plus to go if I'm gonna raisethem up the market value.
Yeah, and I just the image Ihave so much inventory, it it
takes a couple days to do that.
So I haven't I haven't beendoing it, but they've been
(26:01):
selling well, and the demand hasdefinitely been steady or gone
up with this gold price.
SPEAKER_06 (26:08):
Yeah, the thing too is as the price goes up, people
um, you know, you hear the hype,people start buying more of it.
Yeah, even so cool,counterintuitive.
Um, you think, oh man, you know,it's turning people away because
of the price, but no, it's likeit's almost it's like the
chasing it, you know?
(26:28):
It's like I gotta get some gold,you know.
SPEAKER_02 (26:31):
It becomes like the exclusive club, you know, that
very few can get into.
SPEAKER_06 (26:37):
It's crazy.
And we've we had um we've had toreprice our wedding bands.
We carry a line of uh reallynice men's wedding bands, and
they're heavy.
And we looked at the price oneday and we had to order it, and
I'm like, oh my gosh, this tagis way too low.
So we had to reprice that.
We've done some gold chains.
(26:58):
Um the finished goods with thegemstones and the diamond
fashion jewelry and stuff.
We haven't uh haven't repricedthat, but it's a little less of
a factor in those items.
But um, yeah, it's definitelysomething we've I guess we
hadn't had to normally do uh inthe past, you know.
(27:19):
Usually sort of sell throughyour inventory and it kind of
keeps up as you reorder it.
But um this time we've we've hadto be more cognizant of that
just because you it it costs alot to replace it when you do
sell it, you know?
It went up so fast.
Yeah, it did.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Now, Anna, um, I know that you guys were doing
some luxury watches at onepoint.
Um everything I see onlineclaims that the luxury watch
market is cooling a little bit.
Are you seeing that at yourstore as well?
Or is that uh is it still goingup?
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (27:53):
We are seeing that as well.
We um we only have a couple, youknow, luxury watches in store
just really to show people thatwe can get them.
I don't stock like a full caseof of luxury watches.
Um so I mean it is definitelygoing down, I would say, for us
at least.
Um yeah, I mean it's it's hardthat you know the pricing and
(28:17):
everything, and there's they canlook online and see that the
prices are all over the place.
So I think it's confusing tothem, and um, yeah, I don't
know, maybe the economy too.
But yeah, definitely seeing thatdecline a little bit.
SPEAKER_05 (28:28):
Do either of you guys uh carry carry any luxury
watches?
Yeah, I do the same thing Annadoes.
I carry a few at a time in thecase, uh in the boxes, just to
show that I could get them.
Uh yeah, it's something that isuh it's never been crazy popular
by us.
It's been pretty steady.
Uh, I could say that the lastcouple months we sold more than
usual, but I will I won't saythat that's a trend or anything.
(28:52):
It was just a few clients thatcame in and asked for them, but
I don't think it's gonna betrending more during Christmas.
I'm gonna keep the same amountin the case.
SPEAKER_06 (28:59):
Yeah, same here, just a handful of examples.
And but I I would say that justgenerally speaking, following
the market, it does seem to becooling or normalizing um from
you know the to kind of the thepeak about a couple years ago.
So um, but yeah, again, it'sit's an interesting market, and
(29:21):
um but there's a lot of peoplewho are really into it.
So, like you said, you gottahave a little offering that way
when that customer comes in, youat least and and have something
to show or talk about, you know,and uh they appreciate that.
SPEAKER_05 (29:36):
There's never a shortage of people asking.
Oh, really?
Actually purchasing is what isthe difference.
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
What an interesting kind of point I love I love
watches, and um yeah, like Ithink it was two years ago, just
had this incrazy run-up, and itseemed like everybody was uh
that was dealing in watches wasdoing super well.
Um, I was just curious aboutthat.
But At the same time, uh, juston the topic, I guess, is I
wanted to talk about men'sjewelry just a little bit
(30:06):
because it's something um Ialmost am kind of having this
thesis where I think that men'sjewelry, the branding of calling
it men's jewelry is almost likeum sort of handcuffing yourself
a little bit.
Whereas like it's like callingsomething like men's clothing.
You could just call it likeclothing, and then you cast like
a little bit of a wider net andmaybe people don't have to like
(30:26):
be pigeonholed into something.
I wanted to ask, sounds likeVincent, for example, you do um,
you know, chains and and thingslike that, which I guess you
could kind of classify as men'sjewelry.
SPEAKER_05 (30:37):
Yeah, do you guys I would I was gonna say if you're
gonna talk about men's jewelry,put it into two categories, uh
okay uh g occasion, gifts foroccasions and fashion.
Uh so gold chains, goldbracelets, uh, those are
milestone gifts.
Uh we're selling those for uhbaptisms, uh uh graduations,
(30:58):
birth, uh, we're selling thosefor major occasions, whereas
fashion jewelry is gonna befirst birthday, like an off
birthday or a Christmas present,and that's gonna be competing
against everything else that youcould get a gift for.
So we do do men's fashion and wedo okay with it.
But men like occasions jewelry,that's the that is always gonna
(31:18):
be strong and steady.
Really interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (31:20):
And Anna and Lee, do you guys carry I guess men's
jewelry, quote unquote?
SPEAKER_02 (31:25):
Yeah, we do.
Um, you know, we have Inox,which uh we have like an open
selling system with Inox andLash Brooks.
We have like a whole men'sdepartment kind of on one side
of our store, and um, all thatis, you know, consumer facing,
they can walk up and touch itall, and that does really,
really well.
We sell a ton of Inox justbecause the price point's so
(31:48):
great, um, all those differentstyles.
Uh, and then we do have, youknow, uh, you know, men's
diamond fashion rings, coloredfashion rings, and then chains
all in another section as well.
I would say as far as like thenumber of SKUs go, we sell more
of the lower price point I knowstuff.
Um, and and similar to whatVincent was saying, those the
(32:10):
gifts that are like the chainsand the bracelets and all that,
that's like gold or silver.
Um, those are more for like bigoccasions.
SPEAKER_06 (32:18):
Yeah, I'd second that too.
Inox does really well for us.
Um and so we, you know, we'refully stocked and ready to go.
Shout out to the guys at Inox.
Great guys to work with.
Um, but no, their stuff is niceand um, you know, men love it.
And when they come in for theysee things, you know, maybe
(32:39):
they're coming to buy somethingfor their significant other, but
they say, Oh man, look at thatbracelet.
I kind of like that.
Just give me that, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (32:46):
Yeah, I've always heard heard that it's like it's
like uh like a play pen almost,is like you have like a corner,
and then you know, they're uhthe significant other is picking
something out, and then theywalk over and they're just like
picking up necklaces, and it'slike, oh, there you go, and
found them and got got hooked.
SPEAKER_05 (33:02):
Well, yeah, they pick something up, they like it,
and they're like, Oh, it's onlyyou know$75?
Yeah, it's done, add-on, it solditself.
SPEAKER_01 (33:09):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, I guess let's talk aboutlike the the floor a little bit.
I always wonder, do you guys doany like kickoff ahead of the
holidays?
Because this is so important.
It's like you said, 30% of youruh sales are gonna come in the
next uh two months.
Do you guys ever do like uh, forexample, in restaurants, they do
(33:29):
a like a like a wait staffmeeting where they like talk and
they talk about the product andthey uh kind of like maybe not
do family dinner, but they dolike a like a planning session,
like a little hoorah, and thenthey uh kick it off.
Do you guys do that with yourwith your sales staff?
Or I mean you guys are it'sanother day technically for you.
So is it kind of morerun-of-the-mill for them?
(33:50):
What do you do?
SPEAKER_02 (33:52):
We actually just did a quarter four kickoff party for
the first time.
SPEAKER_03 (33:57):
Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_02 (33:57):
Um well, first time since Oscar and I have owned the
business, you know, since 2016.
I'm sure his dad did that yearsago, but it was so much fun.
I rented a private room at arestaurant here in town.
And um, yeah, it was so fun.
I get we gave them all um acruise package to like kick it
off because we did that eventearlier in the year.
So they were like just soexcited about that.
(34:20):
And then we I basically madelike a PowerPoint of October,
November, and December executionand like how we were gonna get
there.
And they all were so pumped up.
I mean, we I have like um funlittle um prizes they can win
every month, like if we hitcertain, you know, objectives.
So it was a blast, and Oscar andI decided we're definitely gonna
(34:42):
keep doing that because I thinkit really set the tone.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (34:46):
I'm just taking notes over here.
Anna's like spitting fire, likeit's gonna be hard to follow
stuff, man.
It's like man, it's gonna be alittle hard to follow.
SPEAKER_05 (34:55):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Anna's comment
there.
SPEAKER_06 (34:58):
No, for sure.
And um, that's a great that's agreat thing.
And just keeping your your teamhappy and like engaged and
excited is just you know, it'sit can be a struggle at times,
especially when you have somereal veteran people, but um
anything we can do to um keepthem motivated and engaged,
(35:19):
especially for this really vitaltime of year.
Um, yeah, it's it's uh it'salways best to keep these, keep
your people happy, you know?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (35:31):
I wouldn't say I do like a like a singular kickoff
to for the holiday.
We're always in the morningtogether talking what we're
gonna do, but there will be acouple times a week what I will
show like more than once what wesold last year and what I want
to focus on this year.
Uh, but now I need to have aparty and give my employees some
gifts.
Private room and everything.
SPEAKER_02 (35:51):
We can uh Vincent, we can talk later about all
that.
I can give you some ideas.
Yeah.
unknown (35:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (35:58):
Team members are gonna hear the podcast, be like,
where's our party?
SPEAKER_01 (36:01):
Uh uh, what about availability?
Uh are you guys going to do youdo you open seven days a week
and like all through uhDecember?
Is that kind of uh the strategy?
Uh most people are doing that, Iguess.
SPEAKER_05 (36:16):
Uh the last couple of weeks up until the holiday
I'll be seven days.
Uh we're typically closed uhMondays and uh Sundays and
Mondays, but uh cob BlackFriday, we will be open Mondays
again.
So we will extend the hours.
It's always useful to do that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (36:34):
Yeah, we do some extended hours.
Um uh those last two weeksreally.
We'll we'll go a little bitlonger in the evening.
Um, we'll open up usually theone or two Sundays before
Christmas, kind of depending onhow the calendar falls.
Yeah.
Um and um, but we're open Mondaythrough Saturday, uh, generally
(36:54):
speaking.
But it's changed a little bitover the years.
I would say uh we used to beopen like from Thanksgiving
seven days a week tillChristmas, but we started
finding that those Sundays,those first couple of Sundays,
just weren't very productive.
A lot of times we ended up justkind of catching up on things we
hadn't had a chance to do yet.
(37:15):
The shopping season seems tostart earlier, and I mean I know
we've probably talked about thisover the last year or two, but
um so it's it seems to be alittle more spread out.
It's not as concentrated likeright at the end.
Um, I don't know if anyone elseis experiencing that, but that's
kind of what we've beenexperiencing.
So it does make it a little biteasier um uh as people start
(37:38):
maybe shopping you know beforeThanksgiving or you know,
holiday time.
You know, November 1st theystart playing the Christmas
music on the radio, you know.
So it's don't stop um yeah,right.
But um so it does seem to haveuh changed a little in that
regard in the last few years.
SPEAKER_05 (37:58):
The shopping season definitely has started sooner,
and yes, it's become less cutconcentrated, condensed in those
last couple of weeks to thepoint where we haven't opened on
Christmas Eve, which is amazing.
Oh, we haven't needed to.
I remember the last year that wedid, we just said next year
we're not gonna open.
We'll work around it.
SPEAKER_02 (38:17):
So for us, we are closed Sunday, Monday throughout
the year.
I think that's like what Vincentsaid too.
Um, what we're gonna do thisyear is we are going to be open
on all Mondays in November.
And then Black Friday weekend iswhen we start being open on
Sundays.
So we will be all seven days inDecember.
(38:38):
Um so it's kind of a slowprogression to being open seven
days.
Um we do an hour later, so we'renormally 10 to 5, we'll be open
10 to 6.
And um I would say I agree alittle bit for us.
I mean, we're already seeingpeople shop for Christmas right
now.
Um so I agree that it'sdefinitely started earlier.
(39:01):
Um, I think it's like prettyconsistent in the middle, and
then the last two weeks areinsane for us at least.
So um that's kind of how it isfor us.
SPEAKER_01 (39:12):
Now to get into your guys' business, though.
I I guess how often are you asthe owners there?
Um, are you do you I don't thinkit's healthy or productive to
work 30 days or 60 days in arow?
I just don't think that ourbodies are really made for that.
It's hard to keep that kind ofspark.
Um, but some people do.
(39:34):
Uh, do you will you findyourself there every single day
of December?
Uh you know, every single dayyou're open-ish.
SPEAKER_02 (39:41):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (39:42):
Really?
SPEAKER_05 (39:42):
Every single is it uh I mean, I'll try to leave
early, but I will be there everyday.
SPEAKER_01 (39:48):
Will you rotate off of like the the sales floor and
like be in the back kind ofplaying support, or is it still
just in the front being able tohelp sell?
SPEAKER_05 (39:58):
So I'm like I'm also a bench jeweler too, so I'll be
doing all the extra jobs that mybench my two bench jewelers that
we hired can't do.
So I'll hopefully be able tocatch up on jobs with them.
Ah playing support, that's supercool.
SPEAKER_06 (40:14):
For me, for sure, the last you know, two or three
weeks, depending on how it'sgoing.
We're staffed up pretty well.
Um and uh we try to let everyonehave a day off, you know, as
long as we can uh in the season.
Um but I I'll I'll be here.
(40:35):
Like said, maybe if I if I dotake half a day or something
like that, you know, maybe earlymid-December.
But um, you know, it's I tellyou, you get a little worn down,
but I I don't know, just afterso many Christmas seasons, you
know, it just it's just what youdo, you know.
You just go to work.
(40:56):
You go to work, you make thepeople happy, and and then you
know, you try and uh when whenit's all over, you try and spend
as much time with the family asyou can, you know.
Um but yeah, that's it, man.
SPEAKER_05 (41:09):
Kind of I I try to work the everyday because I
don't I I don't give myemployees extra days to work.
That's pretty much it.
I'll like I'll take the brunt ofthat because I just want to keep
them level headed.
unknown (41:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:24):
We do the same thing, like they'll all get days
off, but Oscar and I, you know,we'll work with the shifts that
no one else wants to or can.
And um and and our job too, likeI know you asked about how much
you know we were gonna be on thefloor.
My big thing that I do in theback, I mean, I handle all the
money, I order all theinventory.
(41:44):
So the biggest thing like overthe next two months will be
reordering fast sellers umquickly, right?
Because we're gonna sell a lotof them.
So um I'll be on the floor, Iwould say, you know, here and
there, definitely Friday andSaturdays.
I try to like commit my entiredays to being out there
observing, helping.
And um, the rest of the week,you know, I try to get all the
(42:04):
fast sellers done, get thatinventory in, check it in, get
it back out, which is a longprocess when you're talking
about a lot of items.
SPEAKER_01 (42:11):
So cool.
I I they always say that that'sthe number one indicator.
Whenever you talk to Lenny fromthe edge, uh, he always says the
number one indicator for thesuccess of a store is going to
be do they order their fastsellers?
Do they reorder in quickly too?
SPEAKER_02 (42:27):
Oh, it's huge.
I mean, and I didn't even knowlike we should be doing that
until we became Edge RetailAcademy clients.
And now that we've done it, itis insane to me.
I'm like, wow.
I mean, I've sold like six ofthose, and before I hadn't
reordered it for six years.
I mean, it's just it's mindblowing.
So it's a it's very important.
And um, yeah, that's why like medoing that, like I have to be in
(42:51):
the back and get all that done.
So cool.
SPEAKER_01 (42:53):
And maybe just to wrap things up, let's say when
the when it's all done, do youguys open on Boxing Day or even
like what we say, like the theugliest uh six days of the year,
which is 20 the 26th through the31st?
Do you guys open on those days?
Or uh some people just take theentire week like just completely
(43:15):
shut down, they open back up onNew Year's Day.
Is that what do you guys do forthat?
SPEAKER_05 (43:19):
So I um when I said it's not concentrated till
Christmas, it's like the sixdays after Christmas Day are a
nightmare.
Crazy.
It's crazy, and it's all it'svery little returns, it's just a
bunch of people off of work andcoming in.
So yeah, we are absolutely openthe day after Christmas because
(43:41):
it gets busy, very busy.
SPEAKER_06 (43:43):
Yeah, I would say that um the only time we've
really closed any extra days islike maybe if Christmas is on a
Friday or Saturday and we mightjust not come back till Monday,
you know.
But like Vin said, man, it's itgets pretty wild.
Um, I don't know how manywatches we adjust uh in those
six days, but it's a lot.
(44:05):
Um and so, but we do sometimeswe'll take an extra day, uh or
we have been in the past fewyears around New Year's Day.
Um so we'll take New Year's Dayoff, close a little early New
Year's Eve, and then take theday after off.
Um But yeah, the the that weekin between, like you said, a lot
(44:27):
of people are off work and youstill sell a lot too.
Like people get money, orthey're like, you know, they get
um, you know, they just like,hey, I just I just want to buy
this, you know.
I'm just feeling good.
It's holiday time, you know, I'mgonna treat myself or whatever.
Or so um, yeah, we do so we tryto if the calendar cooperates,
(44:48):
we might take an extra day justto get a break, but um, yeah,
it's pretty busy usually.
It's awesome.
SPEAKER_05 (44:54):
And for me to last five years, there's always been
more than one, like at least twoengagement ring sales, those
days in between Christmas andNew Year's.
No way.
So I I I want to keep that trendgoing.
So it's I wanna, I'm hoping forit.
SPEAKER_06 (45:07):
You want to have that sort of spontaneous New
Year's proposal, you know, yeah,that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02 (45:12):
We are the exact same way.
We do so much business thatthose days after Christmas
leading up to New Year's.
Um, and and we've done similarthings that Lee said in the past
where like if it lines up theright way, we'll try to like at
least be closed the 26th as wellto give our team just time to
sleep.
SPEAKER_03 (45:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (45:31):
Um, but I'm looking at the calendar right now, and
Christmas is on a Thursday thisyear.
So uh the 26th is a Friday.
So we're gonna have to be open.
It's gonna be we're gonna be sobusy.
Like that'll be a big day.
People get money for Christmas,they want to spend it.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_01 (45:46):
Yep.
Man, it's so cool to hear thatyou guys have such uh are so
dialed in on you know the rhythmof your of the business year and
your store, uh, that you guysknow these things ahead of time.
I mean, this we're recordingthis on October 24th, and so
you're making these decisionsmore than two months ahead of
(46:06):
time.
And it's just so exciting to tohear.
I'm so stoked to to watch theorders pour in from the
websites, but also, you know,our our retailers, we always
laugh.
Like, this is the busiest timeof the year for you guys, and we
just try our best not to talk toyou guys.
Like, it's like, okay, you guysjust do your own thing, get into
the grind.
Um, anything that, you know, inwrapping up, um, it sounds like
(46:29):
everyone is kind of feelingready and and optimistic about
the whole thing.
Any kind of closing thoughtsbefore we uh before we head out
and I'll let you guys get backto work?
SPEAKER_05 (46:38):
Shout out to Punchmark for my digital
marketing and my website becausethat's one of the biggest drives
of of business that we get.
SPEAKER_01 (46:46):
Ah, I appreciate that, Vincent.
Yeah, I second that.
I second that.
SPEAKER_02 (46:50):
Yeah, shout out to Hope.
SPEAKER_06 (46:52):
Yeah, shout out to Hope.
Yeah.
No, for real.
It's just so, man, it just makesbusiness so much better when you
have an awesome website, youhave a storefront for the world,
um, and nobody does it betterthan Punchmark.
I gotta say that.
Uh we're um, no, but look, it'sgreat to be on here.
(47:14):
I'm telling you, um, I learnedso much from all of you, and uh
it's just I hope that uh you alland everybody listening, you all
have great holiday seasons.
And uh yeah, it's just great tobe here.
Thanks, Mike.
SPEAKER_05 (47:28):
You too, Lee.
It was great to see all of youguys.
I love seeing you guys, and Ican't wait to see you guys at
the next show.
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Show show season coming right around the corner.
Oh my gosh, crazy.
All right, I think maybe we'llend it right there.
I appreciate you all.
Thank you all again.
Uh, I love do having theseconversations.
I learn something every singletime.
And uh, listeners, I hope youlearned something too.
Uh, you guys can learn from allthree of these people.
I'll have all their show notesin the in the links below.
(47:55):
Um, everybody Vince's gonna putthis on his Instagram.
Oh man, wait, one thing.
Vincent, your the AI video aboutyou eating the gold strands made
me laugh harder than anything.
I was told somebody about thatthe other day.
SPEAKER_02 (48:11):
That was amazing.
SPEAKER_05 (48:13):
Happy Italian Heritage Month.
SPEAKER_01 (48:18):
All right, well, thanks everybody.
We'll let you on your way.
Thanks so much.
Have a good rest of your day.
Bye.
All right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week my guests were VincentSpilatro from Orezzo Jewelers,
Anna Barnett from BarnettJewelers, and Lee Elgin from
(48:40):
Elgin Find Jewelry.
Thanks so much for joining me.
This episode was brought to youby Punchmark and produced and
hosted by me, Michael Burpo.
This episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Ross
Cockham.
Don't forget to leave usfeedback on punchmark.com slash
loop and leave us a five-starrating on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts.
It's the best way to help thepodcast grow.
(49:00):
Thanks, we'll be back next weekTuesday with another episode.
Cheers.
Bye.
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