Customers are looking for curation in the form of gift suggestions and ease of shopping, like videos that link to shopping opportunities on the website and information about store hours that make Christmas shopping seem convenient, even on Dec. 24. When curating a gift guide, select pieces that range from affordable to over the top, suggests Shayne McCoy, founder of Straight Up Social. Make sure it’s an omnichannel effort. Create a separate landing page to promote your gift guide or publish it to a blog post. Then share it with customers in an email newsletter.

An Omnichannel Approach

The team at Houston’s Zadok Jewelers decorates both the interior and exterior of the store to create a festive environment and boost the holiday mood. It’s one touchpoint in the company’s 360-degree brand experience, which also includes a magazine, a digital and print gift guide and a bridal billboard. And because they display a video loop featuring holiday and party looks on seven LED panels facing Houston’s busy Post Oak Boulevard, the decorations take on a life of their own. In addition, an annual holiday gift guide is circulated to subscribers through a digital newsletter and used in local print publications. The in-house team chooses items based on what’s trendy and stylish in the market; customers love that the gift guide takes the guesswork out of holiday shopping. This year, the Zadok team has also created a bridal campaign billboard that promotes Zadok’s bridal boutique, a standout feature of their new store that opened in 2021.

The Murphy Bow

Murphy Jewelers’ signature “Murphy Bow” has become synonymous with the Murphy family business over the last few decades and is prominently featured in Christmas advertising, whether digital or direct mail. “It’s something our customers look for on special occasions, even telling their loved ones, ‘You better get me a Murphy Bow!’” says Mallory Murphy, who owns the business with her mom, Kim Murphy. “We often hear stories of families hiding it under the Christmas tree or inside a bag so as not to spoil a surprise.” Murphy Jewelers is based in Pottsville, PA.

Gifts with Purchase

Zorells owner Tim Ell concentrates on radio, TV and video, then reinforce the message with billboards in his Bismarck, ND, market. This year, the focus is on o ering products that can’t be easily comparison shopped and that come with incentives including gifts with purchase and interest-free fi nancing. Ell purchased a large quantity of necklaces and earrings to be used as the “irresistible gifts with purchase” for customers who spend a certain amount. Ell says that while many of his competitors advertise by claiming to have the lowest price, he prefers to add extra value rather than engage in a “race to the bottom.”

Having Fun with Instagram

Karen Hollis is the star of her unscripted Instagram video show for her Batavia, IL, K. Hollis Jewelers, whether she’s showing a few of her favorite holiday gifts, literally “spinning” into the holidays with dance moves or lying on the store fl oor petting her dog. She is her brand. And her brand is all about authenticity, spontaneity and fun. “What’s funny is people are calling the store and saying, ‘Do you still have that necklace you were wearing on Instagram on Tuesday?’ We had to start making a list of what I wore when because I couldn’t remember,” Hollis says. She has so much fun on social media that she’s put together a bloopers compilation of outtakes that she posts on April Fool’s Day

The Voice of the Business

Marc Majors, owner of Samuel L. Majors Jewelers in Midland, TX, appears in his own TV commercials, a personal touch that resonates with the crowd looking to buy local and buy small. “Anybody can take video or pictures of product and make a generic commercial, but when you add the personal touch of being in your own commercial and talking about your business, then it seems more important,” he says. “I also voice my own radio spots, and people seem to gravitate toward that as well. I’ll be in the grocery store talking to the cashier and someone will tell me they recognize my voice.”

Finding the Right Niche

Maejean Vintage is based in Lancaster, PA, and was founded over a decade ago as a global online business specializing in vintage and antique jewelry. But their showroom is open by appointment, so co-owner Laura Mae advertises in the local Fig Magazine as a way to connect with their local customer base. “It’s pretty much the only print advertising we routinely partake in,” she says. “The magazine is local and focuses on fascinating and inspiring stories, guides, and community. When deciding upon print advertising for our unconventional and niche business, the right fi t was especially important.” For this particular holiday ad, social media coordinator Heidi played model. “We decked her out in some of our most glamorous and sparkly pieces with a holiday inspired look!” Mae says.

All About the Jewelry

Rick Nichols, owner of Nassau Jewelry Co. in Fernandina Beach, FL, has been advertising in the local Amelia Island magazine for seven years, and shoppers bring in the ads or mention they’ve seen them year-round. Readers tend to be over 40 and not active on social media, so it’s a good way for Nassau Jewelry to connect with what is a desirable demographic for them. Nichols doesn’t mention Christmas in his holiday-season ads because he doesn’t believe it’s necessary and he prefers simplicity. “People are aware it is Christmas,” he says. “In the end, it’s about the jewelry.”

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Three men with guns entered the store Friday afternoon and disarmed a security guard, CBS Chicago reported. They then smashed display cases and started grabbing merchandise. (Scroll down to watch a news video about the robbery.)

At that point, “A store employee emerged from the rear of the store and confronted the offenders who shot the employee twice,” police stated.

ABC7 reported that the victim was a co-owner of the store.

The gunshots reportedly hit the co-owner in the chest and wrist. He “is said to be in critical condition, but is speaking and is expected to survive,” ABC7 reported Friday.

Police are still looking for the suspects, who were wearing masks and drove away in a silver sedan.

Watch the video:

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About $400,000 in merchandise was taken from Razny Jewelers in Hinsdale, IL, in the March 17, 2017, crime.

A federal jury in 2020 convicted Tobias Diggs, of Chicago, and Joshua McClellan, of Oak Lawn, on robbery and firearm charges. Last week, U.S. District Judge Gary S. Feinerman sentenced Diggs to 11 years in federal prison and McClellan to eight years.

Among the items stolen were watches by Frederique Constant, Patek Phillipe and Tudor. The defendants later “sold, attempted to sell, or disposed of some of the stolen items” in the Chicago area and in Atlanta, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Two other people allegedly participated in the robbery. Marvon Hamberlin, of Chicago, was indicted and is a fugitive.  A warrant has been issued for his arrest, according to the release. The fourth individual has not been identified.

According to evidence presented at trial, on the day of the heist, McClellan drove the getaway car – a Lexus SUV – while Diggs and the other robbers entered the store and pointed a gun at a female employee. After the unidentified robber tackled a store security guard, Diggs hit the female employee with the gun and dragged her by her hair to a back room, while he and the others gained accessed to the store’s safe and stole the jewelry.

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A layered approach is important, especially with jewelry. Visual merchandisers strive to capture attention from afar with large objects, and then engage passersby again with more detail when they’re up close. So, much depends on whether the store traffic is vehicular or pedestrian (or both).

Falk recommends changing the overall window design five times a year — for the four seasons and again for the Christmas holidays — but refreshing them more often by changing the product displayed.

Where security is a concern, jewelry stores can use large photos of their product for display in windows. Movement in displays can be exceptionally eye-catching, but when motion detectors are sensitive to any movement up front, it’s important to find ways to tie down or glue down displays and then to simulate movement by layering display items. Reflective vinyl and paper elements can add much needed sparkle. Finally, don’t neglect lighting your window displays. Opt for clear, bright lights without yellow tones with good strong lumen output.

As for inspiration, Pinterest and Instagram are good virtual sources. Suzanne Rafenstein, director of the display department for RetailWorks, also suggests window shopping when visiting other cities and paying attention to visual cues, whether in store windows or museum displays. “It’s helpful to get out of your area, comfort zone and box, and explore somewhere different,” she says.

Neighborhood Vibe

At Ellie Thompson & Co., Chicago, an annual holiday window decorating contest is judged by local residents. “Our marketing philosophy is best described as hyper-local, so our window displays relate to the activities of the neighborhood,” Thompson says. Her windows are regularly painted by a local artist, who also creates original works for other retailers on the block, for a cohesive theme, such as an annual Winterfest. The Chamber of Commerce and the neighborhood association play a big role in coordinating and subsidizing creative efforts that contribute to the festive feel of the neighborhood, she says.

Personality Plus

Steve Quick Jewelers in Chicago is known for going all out with window displays, says Melissa Quick. With a small storefront on a high-traffic city street, “the more we can do to grab attention, the better.” One memorable example? Star Wars windows with each case dedicated to a specific movie set, curated by Steve and Melissa’s nephew with his own action figures. “We actually had people coming in off the street to tell us how amazing this display was,” Melissa says. Their windows have also played host to rubber chickens, to creepy porcelain doll heads for Halloween, a tribute to David Bowie, in conjunction with a museum exhibit, and the Chicago Marathon, the year Melissa ran in it. “Right now, we have a whole professional wresting theme,” Quick says. “Our windows are really epic!”

Open Invitation

Alice Sundbom of Atelier d’Emotion in Soho, New York City, used her windows as a selling point during pandemic shutdowns and brought merchandise out to shoppers on the street. Window displays remain essential to her business, telling a compelling story and providing a snapshot of the eclectic works of art passersby can expect to see when they venture inside.

Heralding the Holidays

Retailworks Inc. used larger than life holiday ornaments to create the theme at Diedrich Jewelers of Ripon, WI. Minimalist decor delivered maximum impact by bringing joy to shoppers, the community and nearby businesses, proving that a simple yet strategic design can brighten the holidays. The inflatable, rubber-like ornaments are the size and shape of yoga balls and can be deflated, stored and used again. The jewelry display platforms were changed throughout the holiday 2021 season.

Past and Present

For holiday 2021 windows at Patina Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, owner Ivan Barnett and team blended nostalgic antique trains with road sign furniture by artist Boris Bally and an image of a famous Ferrari race car, with contemporary jewelry sprinkled in, for an eclectic and intriguing vignette.

Brand Artistry

Inspired by the beauty of rice paper, the display artists at Retailworks Inc. designed and fabricated red and white Christmas trees made of rice paper and wood for Kesslers Diamonds’ downtown Milwaukee, WI, location. Within each tree are diamond-cut shapes that reflect the nature of the store’s business and branding color, red. Surrounding the winter scene are suspended 3D printed diamonds, and as the sun filters through the windows, the delicate sheerness of the rice paper with its crackling composition provides the illusion of a sheet of ice. Another component of this layered window design is the oversized versions of Kesssler Diamonds’ iconic red gift boxes.

Seasonal Color

Daniela Balzano of Water Street Jewelers in Connecticut likes to create windows with bright pops of color to celebrate each season in her pedestrian-friendly locations. “Putting a little extra time into window presentation has made a big difference for us,” she says. “We have used old ladders as shelving units, dressed mannequins, displayed live plants, hung paper cranes, there’s always something fun happening in our front windows.” One staff member curates an area called “Minetta’s Pick of the Day”; customers often come in to purchase those showcased pieces. Pictured is the January 2022 window at her Madison, CT, store. The windows are updated each month.

Like a Lazy Susan

When Ragnar Bertlesen of Ragnar Jewelers in Vancouver, BC, remodeled her showroom, she redesigned showcases so that they rotate. It’s simple to access items displayed in the window by rotating the cases, making selling in the showroom simpler.

Themed Windows

At Barry Peterson Jewelers in Ketchum, ID, the strategy is to dedicate each window to a trending look, alternating between gender specific/gender neutral and youth/mature style options. Each window also has a specific object supporting the window’s theme, such as an hourglass in the classics-themed window, or succulents and butterflies for their spring styles. Curator Rebecca Larson saves dried flower arrangements for use in the window displays.

This is Us

Karen Hollis of K Hollis Jewelers in Batavia, IL, commissioned an artist to paint her windows. “I really want to set a vibe right when you walk in that this is a fun relaxed atmosphere, that this is us. It’s nice to know talented people who can paint what ideas you have. As jewelers, we get to do that every day but to be on the receiving end and watch it turn into a masterpiece touched my heart.”

Clean and Classic

“We always dress our windows up seasonally and this is our November window,” says Marc Majors of Sam L. Majors in Midland, TX. “We keep it clean and classic. Nothing cheesy and nothing gimmicky.

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T’S UNCLEAR WHO first said culture eats strategy for breakfast, but it’s one of the great truths of running a business. Without the right culture, not much positive can get done. And indeed, with the wrong culture, ruin awaits regardless of the business plan. Organizational cultures are tremendously powerful. From a pure business standpoint, they can raise standards, spur productivity and engagement, engender accountability, and boost employee retention and loyalty. They can ensure a customer’s welfare is paramount, or that every single worker is focused on the bottom line, or that they’re constantly looking for the next big idea. They can attract the right people and deter the wrong ones from applying. And when the culture is aligned with your own personality and beliefs in how a business should run, it just makes coming to work a win instead of a battle.

As Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, has acknowledged, without its culture, his $125 billion company would be nothing: “The only competitive advantage we have is the culture and values of the company. Anyone can open up a coffee store. We have no technology; we have no patent. All we have is the relationship around the values of the company and what we bring to the customer every day. And we all have to own it.”

The power of culture is something that most business owners understand. More than 78 percent of the jewelers in our Brain Squad said they agreed that culture was critical to their company’s performance and success.

And yet culture is also something most small business owners don’t actively manage (only 39 percent of the jewelers in our survey said it was an active priority). This seems to be for two main reasons. First is the view of management that reflects the traditional theory that business is essentially contractual: Employees exchange their labor for money and are motivated by incentives and controlled by policies. But the second, probably bigger, reason is that culture is fiendishly hard to control. Unlike technology, inventory or physical environments, culture is “wet.” It’s human and involves emotions, social connections, ingrained behaviors, and psychology. And while culture is incredibly easy to spot — think of organizations like NASA, the U.S. Marines, the New York Ballet, Google or Trader Joe’s — it remains this nebulous, intangible thing that can be hard to corral.

It’s also one of the most difficult things to impose from the top down. This is partly because there is no one “best practice” model that can be implemented. Culture is inherently organic. It is made up of the unsaid stuff — shared values, expectations, social norms and pressures. It is the things people do when the boss is not around (which ultimately is probably the best definition of culture).

And annoyingly, it’s not like you can even ignore it. Even if you don’t try to manage it, a culture will take root. Every business has one. And it can change quickly.

“We discovered the hard way that our company culture changed for the worse when we expanded,” recalls Melissa Quick of Steve Quick Jeweler in Chicago. “It doesn’t matter if you have spiffs for PTO, contests for gift cards for the best restaurants, close stores to take everyone (22 people!) to the Vegas shows, give your staff Lollapalooza tickets … if you have a couple of negative people and don’t recognize it as a problem or take action, it will get out of hand quickly.”

To turn things around, the Quicks decided they had to do a complete reset, which included downsizing. “We realized we could have a better store culture and offer a better shopping experience by getting small, so we did.”

According to management theory, cultures can be plotted against two axes running from tight to loose and from permissive to ordered and hierarchical.

Writing in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), Harvard business professor Boris Groysberg and his team say cultures can be classified into eight types or styles.

Caring work environments are warm and collaborative, with a focus on relationships and mutual trust. This family-like setup is one a lot jewelers identify with.

Purpose is exemplified by shared ideals and contributing to a greater cause. Whole Foods before it was swallowed by Amazon was a good example.

• Learning is characterized by an emphasis on innovation and creativity. Work environments are open-minded places that spark new ideas and support the exploration of alternatives. Failure is not considered a bad thing. Think Tesla.
• Enjoyment is expressed through fun and excitement that is shared with customers. Zappos set the high bar for this kind of culture, again before it was consumed by Amazon.
• Results are characterized by achievement, performance and winning. Wall Street investment banks typify this approach.
• Authority is defined by strength, often reflected by the leader, along with decisiveness and boldness. Steve Jobs-era Apple is a great example.
• Safety is defined by planning, caution, and preparedness. Work environments are predictable places where people are risk-conscious and think things through carefully. Insurance companies and medical institutions often fit this model.
• Order is focused on respect, structure, and shared norms and traditions. The SEC would be an example of such a methodical place where people play by the rules, and leaders emphasize procedures and time-honored customs.

“Whereas some cultures emphasize stability — prioritizing consistency, predictability, and maintenance of the status quo — others emphasize flexibility, adaptability, and receptiveness to change,” Groysberg writes in HBR. “Those that favor stability tend to follow rules, use control structures such as seniority-based staffing, reinforce hierarchy, and strive for efficiency. Those that favor flexibility tend to prioritize innovation, openness, diversity, and a longer-term orientation.”

Most organizations are typically a mix of more than one style. Nearly all businesses — as commercial enterprises — are results-oriented to some degree, but a mom-and-pop business in a tight community will often be more focused on caring than, say, a Wall Street investment bank.

Although business cultures seem to rise and fall like fashion (the Silicon Valley model of smart failure, anti-hierarchy and innovation seems to be all the rage now), no one culture is inherently better or worse than another. For whatever problems the hyper-competitive, money-focused Wall Street model may impose, it also drives a tremendous work ethic and does what it is supposed to: attract bright young minds and bring in money. The key thing is that the culture is aligned with what the organization is trying to achieve.

As our chart shows, our Brain Squad jewelers ranked Caring as their No. 1 cultural value with Authority the least desired style.

The other thing about cultures is that they prevent behaviors as much as they promote them. As much as you may want to foster a cohesive culture, too much groupthink can be dangerous when times call for change.

When “it’s the way we’ve always done things” dominates, that can spell disaster for a commercial enterprise in a fast-changing world.

Turning a culture around takes time. In the following pages, we provide tips from jewelers and business experts on how to foster a driven, happy team whose goals and values are aligned with yours.

FIRST, LISTEN

Founders obviously play a significant role in setting company culture, but before too long, it takes on a life of its own and develops organically from the staff. Before you can change your store’s culture, you need to understand it and know how your staff views it. That requires spending time with them and discussing the issue. Form small groups — no more than four employees in each — and spend 60 to 90 minutes asking open-ended questions like:

• What 10 words would you use to describe our company?
• What advice would you give a friend if they came to work here?
• Around here, what’s considered really important?
• Around here, who fits in and who doesn’t?
• What does it take to succeed here? What behaviors get rewarded?

“Leaders tend to think employees won’t open up — but we’ve seen the opposite,” says Joseph Grenny, a social scientist and head of leadership training company VitalSmarts. “When an executive sits down and truly listens, employees will be surprisingly honest.”

Allison Leitzel-Williams has found that to be true at her family’s store, Leitzel’s Jewelry in Myerstown, PA. “Listen to your employees. Know there is more than one way to do something right and empower them. If you have a great culture, they will do great things for you.”

ESTABLISH YOUR PURPOSE

Nietzsche probably put it best: “He who has a why can bear with almost any how.”

Purpose may not be your No. 1 cultural priority, but it needs to be articulated clearly to new hires, in your written core values as well as modeled and celebrated to reinforce a positive company culture. “People who find meaning in their work don’t hoard their energy and dedication. They give them freely … Positive peer pressure kicks in, collaboration increases, learning accelerates, and performance climbs,” say business professors Robert E. Quinn and Anjan V. Thakor, writing in the Harvard Business Review. When your business involves some of the most important days in people’s lives, establishing purpose shouldn’t be difficult, but it can be overlooked in the day-to-day rush to get things done. Be sure to share the stories from appreciative customers.

ARTICULATE YOUR VALUES

In his book Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion, And Purpose, which tells of online shoe company Zappos’ growth into a billion-dollar enterprise, late founder Tony Hsieh recounted how he resisted publishing formal core values – “essentially a definition of our culture” – during the first seven years because he had thought of it as a very “corporate” thing to do. The delay, he says, was one of his bigger management mistakes as the core values become central to hiring, the way staff interact with each other and customers, and the way the company does business. Rather than lofty sounding but meaningless verbiage, Hsieh said his goal was “a list of committable core values that we were willing to hire and fire on. If we weren’t willing to do that, then they weren’t really ‘values.’” The 10-point list, which includes values such as Deliver Wow Through Service, Embrace Change, Create Fun and a Little Weirdness, Do More With Less, and Be Humble, took a year to put together and was built on employee input. “Over time, our recruiting department developed interview questions for each and every one of the core values, and we tested our commitment during the hiring process,” wrote Hsieh. Christina Baribault-Ortiz says her store, Baribault Jewelers in Glastonbury, CT, has a similarly clear company mission that “any staff member could repeat at the drop of a dime.” She recommends framing your core values in a bright positive color and placing them on a shared wall.

FOCUS ON VITAL BEHAVIORS

When it comes to fostering cultural change, don’t worry about outcomes; focus on behaviors. Get those right and the outcomes will take care of themselves. Many managers understand this, but what most don’t appreciate is just how few high-leverage behaviors are needed to drive a lot of change, says BYU management studies professor Kerry Patterson in Influencer: The Power To Change Anything. Watch what your best performers are doing and try to determine the unique behaviors that make the difference. Run mini experiments to verify your hunches and then put your findings into practice. Patterson cites the case of a company that wanted to improve its service culture but had only one sales team that met its targets in terms of customer satisfaction. By observing them in action, it was found they did five things without fail: Smiled, made eye contact, identified themselves, let people know what they were doing and why, and ended every interaction by asking, “Is there anything else that you need?” Simple stuff, but when implemented without fail, the company got the results it was looking for. “Confusing outcomes with behaviors is no small matter — it’s behind most failed influence strategies,” says Patterson.

TELL STORIES

When trying to cajole workers to accept cultural change or new behaviors, it is easy to come off sounding like a nag, a manipulator or just an overly demanding business owner. As opposed to lectures or directives, stories are effective because they transport people out of the role of resistor/critic and into the role of participant in an emotionally charged drama. Stories help people view the world in new ways while giving them hope. They can show the consequences of mediocrity and connect people with the experiences, feelings, and impact of bad performance. Keep the issue alive by telling stories that illustrate work well done and the real human cost of shoddy work, such as lost diamonds, ruined weddings or customers who felt they weren’t listened to. In addition to having characters who are identifiable, “make sure that the narrative you’re implying contains a clear link between the current behaviors and existing or possibly future negative results,” says Patterson. Also be sure that the story includes positive replacement behaviors that yield new and better results. When you’re promoting change to the way people work, your stories need to deal with both the questions of “Will it be worth it?” and “Can I do it?”

According to studies, it takes an average of 10 to 20 exposures to an idea before it will be accepted. “It’s hard to remember that it takes soooo much time to shift culture. Stick with it! The reward is actually in the journey,” says Natasha Henderson, owner of Saxon’s Fine Jewelers, Bend, OR. Tom Duma, owner of Thom Duma Fine Jewelers, in Warren, OH, says his experience has been similar: “Company culture starts with the head (owner, management), then vision and core values. And then training, training and more training to get a staff of 10 or 50 to understand and function in your desired culture,” he says.

PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY

Defending the high standards of a culture requires peer accountability. Indeed, on high-performing teams, peers manage the bulk of the heavy lifting when it comes to maintaining standards. Almost counterintuitively, it is in weaker teams that bosses must enforce standards. Regular weekly reviews can provide opportunities for mutual feedback and establish peer-accountability as a norm, Grenny says in his book Crucial Accountability. It’s key that your store becomes an environment where everyone feels empowered to challenge anyone if it is in the best interest of the business. As the boss or manager, you must also be quick to defend the high standards. A chronic poor performer is a clear impediment to the goals you’ve set. How you handle this situation will let your team know whether your highest value is keeping the peace or pursuing performance. “When you ask a group to step up to high performance, you are inviting them to a place of stress — one where they must stretch, where failure is possible, where interpersonal conflicts must be addressed,” writes Grenny. “If you shrink from or delay in addressing this issue, you don’t just lose that person’s contribution — you send a message to everyone else about your values,” he says.

APP IT

Online reward programs based in psychological testing can make the implementation of reward programs easy. An example is Bonusly, a program that allows workers to recognize each other’s hard work and reward it. “We give all employees 150 points a month that they can give to co-workers for doing a great job,” Optima Office founder and CEO Jennifer Barnes told Inc. magazine. “It’s important because it shifts the company culture from just trying to impress the boss to working for the team.” Evidence highlights the importance of keeping incentives small, spontaneous and symbolic. If the rewards are too large, the focus on extrinsic rewards may undermine workers’ motivation to give their best effort, leading them to only provide help with the expectation of receiving a payoff.

HIRE TO BUILD CULTURE

Hire for culture not skills is a business truism. Or as the shorthand version puts it: A Good Hire = Skill + Will + Cultural Fit.

But what many managers look for and are acting on is more of “an intuitive sense of, ‘Would I get along with this person?’ and that often isn’t very reliable,” Kirsta Anderson, head of culture transformation for Korn Ferry, told the Wall Street Journal. Marc Majors, owner of Sam L. Majors in Midland, TX, says that was certainly the case with his hiring. “I used to hire people off of first impressions, and I’ve been fooled a time or two doing that. One time I hired a gal after interviewing her for about 30 minutes and got stuck with a morally drained individual. It caused a toxic workspace once her secrets got out,” he says. Now he tries to be much more methodical.

Anderson says hiring managers need to go deep and figure out whether applicants are in sync with more fundamental elements of their culture. “Are they excited about how the company innovates, serves customers or makes a social impact? Will they mesh with the way individuals and teams at the company work, by collaborating or competing? And will they naturally make decisions the way the employer wants — individually or as a group, embracing or avoiding risk?”

Keep in mind that culture is not someone who looks and talks like you and has had similar life experiences.

Here’s what it is:

• Shared enthusiasm about a company’s mission or purpose
• A common approach to working, together or individually
• A mutual understanding of how to make decisions and assess risk

Here’s what it’s not:

• A common educational, cultural or career background
• A sense of comfort and familiarity with co-workers
• Shared enjoyment of such perks as ping pong and craft beer

Dave Fadel of Fadel Enterprises in Bountiful, UT, says his approach to building a store culture is to “compliment staff on anything positive.” It’s a model many jewelers would be wise to follow. Praise is one of the best ways to guide behavior, and yet most managers are total misers, rationing it out as if there was a significant cost attached and then only for outstanding work. But according to Patterson, when polled, employees reveal that their No. 1 complaint is that they aren’t recognized for their notable performances. While a leader may shy away from sharing praise for efforts that are simply a part of an employee’s job description, people crave that sense of recognition and appreciation, Patterson says. He recommends giving each team member time during your Friday meeting to share not only their own experiences but a shout-out to someone who helped them during the previous days. When they know this is coming each week, they will be more inclined to stay connected and keep track of who they worked with and how they were able to help each other.

INSTITUTE A “NO ASSHOLE RULE”

Retail can be a high-pressure business at times, but that shouldn’t be allowed to excuse bad behavior. In The No Asshole Rule: Building A Civilized Workplace And Surviving One That Isn’t, Bob Sutton, a professor at Stanford Business School, makes a well-reasoned argument that assholes — who he defines as self-centered, abusive, toxic individuals — are not only bad for the people that work with them, but for the organizations that harbor them. And even if assholes are successful, life is too short and too precious to tolerate them, he says. “There’s all this negative carnage. The people around them, their physical and mental health and personal relationships, they all suffer. No positive culture can survive their corrosive influence. Show them the door,” he says. Michael Kanoff, owner of Michael’s Jewelers in Yardley, PA, concurs. “Team chemistry is everything to me. For years, I felt I always worked with someone who brought the entire company down. We no longer have that and we are doing better than we ever have.”

MAKE IT A GREAT PLACE TO WORK, BUT …

Culture is often the difference between your team waking up thinking, “I have to go to work” and “I get to go to work.” Happy hours, team lunches, birthday shout-outs, and company outings can help build a positive environment, and people generally do their jobs better when they trust and like their co-workers. But culture is not about providing a company keg or other frills. It’s hiring people who have meaningful shared values (and who actually want to have beers together). Celebrated business author Tom Peters says, “Give a lot, expect a lot, and if you don’t get it, prune.” That may sound glib, but each part of this advice — the setting of standards, the communicating of them and the systematic support to ensure they can be carried out — requires conscious effort on the part of the business owner. People want to work for a company that they can be proud of and that is going to bring out the best in them. It’s the serious stuff, not the frivolous, that matters.

MODEL THE CULTURE

“The greatest influence in the world is the influence of norms,” says Grenny. “When people see visual models of desirable behavior, and when that behavior becomes widespread, it also becomes self-sustaining.” However, few people understand that norms change one person at a time. When someone offers a living example of behavior that solves a problem, others can be powerfully influenced by that one person. “When we coach executives to inspire others, we tell them to find that one positive example — a person, a team, a unit that went the extra mile to help a customer, to help out a fellow employee, meet a particularly high standard — and make it evident these are your expectations and let it sink into the collective conscience of the entire organization,” says Grenny. It helps to keep your eyes open for such positive behaviors, says Dorothy Vodicka, owner of The Gem Collection in Tallahassee, FL: “Do the one-minute manager technique of catching employees doing the things you want them to do and rewarding that behavior.”

As the company leader, make sure your mission statement is enacted in the “micromoments” of daily organizational life. “These consist of small gestures rather than bold declarations of feeling,” write management professors Sigal Barsade of Wharton, and Olivia O’Neill of George Mason University in a column in HBR. “For example, little acts of kindness and support can add up to an emotional culture characterized by caring and compassion.” Such signaling happens at Sherries Jewelry Box in Tigard, OR, where owner Sherrie Schilling-Devaney cites Caring and Joy as their top priorities. “We try to have some fun and laugh every day, even if it is just at ourselves,” she says. The same goes for the less glamorous aspects of work, says Ralph Vandenberg, owner of Vandenberg’s Jewellers in Alberta, Canada. “It all starts with the boss. Do the dirty jobs. Don’t act like any job in the store is beneath you. Not much motivates like the staff coming in and seeing the boss vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom.”

ENLIST YOUR OPINION LEADERS

The people who make up our social networks are the key sources of persuasion in our lives. But some of those people are far more powerful than others. When it comes to adopting new ideas or behaviors, for example, it is estimated 85 percent of the population will not adopt a practice until they see these so-called opinion leaders or early adopters do it. These people represent only about 13.5 percent of the population. They are smarter than average and tend to be open to new ideas, but they are different from innovators (the other 1.5 percent of the population) in one critical way as they are socially connected and respected. When trying to improve your culture, you have to identify and win these people over to your cause. “Spend a disproportionate time with them, listen to their concerns, build trust with them, be open to their ideas, rely on them to share your ideas, and you’ll gain a source of influence unlike any other,” writes Patterson in Influencer.

SEEK ADAPTABILITY

There is a second danger in hiring for cohesion: Too much emphasis on cultural fit can stifle diversity and cause managers to overlook promising candidates with unique perspectives, an important attribute in our fast-changing world.

“Where everyone thinks in similar ways and sticks to the dominant norms, businesses are doomed to stagnate,” says Wharton organizational professor Adam Grant, urging that you hire for adaptability as well.

“In some environments, culture can be so cohesive and strong that groupthink can occur where management or staff teams are committed to a singular vision that crowds out any view on a more viable future alternative — organizations that have a very strong product identity and value prop are more susceptible to this than others,” he wrote in a 2019 paper. As advertising legend Walter Lippman put it: When all think alike, then no one is thinking.

Kim Hatchell, the manager at Galloway & Moseley in Sumter, SC, says that’s one of the things she’s learned in the business: “Do not be so rigid and stuck in the ‘we’ve always …’ mindset. Expand and include new ideas,” she urges.

STRUCTURE YOUR ONBOARDING

Get a robust onboarding plan in place, and you’ll allow new hires to navigate your company culture with confidence and quickly get up to speed. “Clearly defining organizational goals and explaining the ‘why’ behind them is essential during the onboarding process, when new employees are learning the ropes and grappling with what is expected of them. It also sets the scene for personal accountability,” former Intel CEO, Bob Swann, told the New York Times in a story about his efforts to change that company’s culture.

A successful onboarding program:

• Helps new hires understand how work is done in a company and addresses the details of the company’s daily operations.
• Outlines the organizational structure and explains where everyone fits in the framework.
• Reinforces the company brand and its values, mission, and vision.
• Acclimates new employees to their surroundings and environment, which helps them feel connected to others.

BUILD TRUST

To a lot of employers, culture means employees who will keep working hard even when no one is watching. Trust is thus central to culture. The research of neuroeconomist Paul Zak has identified the brain chemical oxytocin — shown to facilitate collaboration and teamwork — as a key player in this regard: The higher the levels, the more energetic and collaborative the workers. In Trust Factor: The Science Of Creating High-Performance Companies, he details a framework for creating a culture of trust and building a happier, more loyal and more productive workforce. The framework includes eight key management behaviors that stimulate oxytocin production and generate trust: 1) Recognize excellence; 2) Induce “challenge stress”; 3) Give people discretion in how they do their work; 4) Enable job crafting; 5) Share information broadly; 6) Intentionally build relationships; 7) Facilitate whole-person growth; and 8) Show vulnerability. Ultimately, Zak concludes, managers can cultivate trust by setting a clear direction, giving people what they need to see it through, and then getting out of their way.

TREAT PEOPLE LIKE ADULTS

Create policies for the many, not for the few. That allows you to design policies to bring out the best in people, not micromanage their every move or bind them in red tape. Yes, some people will try to take advantage of you sometimes, but treat everybody like an adult, make sure they understand what their responsibilities are and trust them to do the right thing — and most will respond in the right way. “People perform best when they are themselves. It is more relaxed and makes the client feel more relaxed,” notes Don Unwin of Sterling Jewelers in Wethersfield, CT.

The post 19 Tips to Build a Driven, Happy Team That Works to Win appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

OWNER: Ellie Thompson; URL: elliethompsonco.com; FOUNDED: 1998; OPENED FEATURED LOCATION: 2019; AREA: 1,200 square feet; EMPLOYEES: 2; ONLINE PRESENCE: 5-star rating on Yelp; 944 followers on Instagram

A VISIT TO ELLIE Thompson + Co. is a mix of magic, whimsy and adventure, the perfect setting for the jewelry designer’s inventive collections.

The windows are painted regularly by an artist to tell seasonal stories. A shade garden adds warmth and curb appeal out front. Inside, sterling silver jackalopes, designed by Thompson, hide among miniature ferns. Jewelry pieces, including a snake, pop up on plants and natural stone surfaces, lending them an organic air. A magical rose motif adorns one wall.

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Thompson’s jewelry and her space work together to tell an enchanting story of creativity. As a jewelry designer, Thompson’s first forays into retail sales were more about pop-ups than permanence. But when she took a step back to think about what she liked to do best, her experience working with clients who were going to wear the jewelry she created was the most rewarding. “You don’t really get to do that in the wholesale environment,” she says.

A comfortable couch is just one element that has proved inviting to clients tempted to linger.

She began looking for a spot for a store in 2019, but nothing seemed quite right. Ultimately, the space on the north side of Chicago chose her, she says, when a friend with a commercial condo space in Roscoe Village invited her to rent the storefront. With its mix of restaurants, boutiques and professional offices, the street has the feel of a small-town main street.

As soon as she saw it, she could visualize its potential. “I said, ‘Yep, I’ll have it open in four weeks. I’m calling the painter this afternoon.’ It was really exciting, getting it ready.”

The space came with a large granite table and a white couch around which everything else fell into place. “The lighting was already installed in the perfect places,” she says. “I didn’t have to put in one track. I just changed lightbulbs. It was so close to turnkey. And it’s absolutely me.”

After she’d been in it a few months, her vision of what it could look like expanded. She designed furniture and fixtures that were made by Polaris Metal Works, and then made a trip to the Pioneer Mountains of southwestern Montana to pick them up. She added a movable wall. The custom carbon steel case frames and tables were designed with interchangeable legs of different heights to provide flexibility. This allows her to redesign the entire store in an afternoon. Says Thompson: “I love being able to move things and create a look for an event or for a season.”

The interior melds rustic Western American artifacts and urban industrial design with plants and romantic touches. Despite its distinctive custom look, this perfect place came together on a budget of less than $5,000.

Halloween has become the focus of multiple hyper-local marketing efforts.

Thompson went right to the source — the guy with the torch, she says — to make the carbon steel cabinets, and since she drove them back from Montana herself, she didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars on freight.

Security bars on the windows fortuitously resemble French paned windows. And there was a 12-by-12-foot plot of dirt for her shade garden, which may soon have a fountain.

“Most of my customers are people I’ve known in the past 20 years, then people in the neighborhood and their referrals,” says Thompson. “There’s a group of women who know each other very well and have come to the store for friends’ birthday gifts. They’ve all bought things for themselves as well.”

Thompson began her career in jewelry working for British goldsmith Derek Simpson in New Haven, CT. Inspired, she studied gemology at GIA. Soon after, in Chicago, she founded the appraisal firm, the Chicago Gem Lab, consulting with individuals as well as Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Butterfields and Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.

One thing she learned in wholesale that has served her well is how to manage production by anticipating what customers will need restocked, an insight she brings to her own retail enterprise.

For years, she sold her collections through select retailers, including galleries in the Rocky Mountains. Inspired by mountain biking, she launched a series of limited-edition sterling silver belt buckles that celebrate the American West. She is one of only a few female sterling silver belt buckle designers in North America.

Thompson designs all of the jewelry in the store, which is made in her manufacturing shop in Chicago, with the exception of pendant chains and leather goods. Her use of rare and unique gemstones such as gray spinel, yellow zircons and demantoid garnets gives her work a distinctive look.

Although Thompson moved into e-commerce reluctantly, with a measure of skepticism regarding buyers she doesn’t know, she has discovered that it makes it easier for people she already knows to find her work. “People I know from the bike community see my Instagrams. Someone will send me a DM saying ‘I like this ring,’ and all of a sudden I have a $3,500 sale from someone I do know.”

Thompson feels equally at home in Chicago and in Montana, although the idea for belt buckles was born out West. The idea of the West was an early inspiration for her. “Even though I didn’t go out West till I was in my 40s, I have worn cowboy boots since I was 16 years old in New Haven, Connecticut,” she says.

Ellie Thompson + Co.’s interior-design aesthetic is organic, providing a setting that complements Thompson’s jewelry designs.

She designed her first belt buckle when her 2008 jewelry collection, American Metaphor, seemed like it was crying out for one. “I really liked working with the larger format,” she says, and she believes that she has something unique to add to the genre. Traditionally, Western belt buckles are curved and flat. “All of mine are sculptural hand-carved waxes and come off the belt further. The ram skulls and bison skulls are really shrunken to scale complete with the teeth and attached to the buckle. And with the open work, you can see the leather strap through my buckles.”

While she hopes to work with a gallery in Missoula, MT, she has no plans to cut ties to Chicago. “All the times I was traveling out West, I was always home in January because I didn’t want to miss a Chicago winter,” says Thompson, who finds the icy, dramatic landscape beautiful. “Icebergs take over the tops of the sand. Dunes are made out of snow and ice. There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.”

She’s working on ways to tell her own story, particularly in blog form, to further define her hyperlocal, one-on-one approach to marketing. “That plays to my strengths because I want to work with the guy down the street and get to know his family, to learn about what kind of jewelry his wife has and to be able to say, ‘These are the kinds of things that would go well with it.’”

PHOTO GALLERY (15 IMAGES)

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Five Cool Things About Ellie Thompson + Co.

1. ACCOLADES. As a designer, Thompson has won numerous awards for her innovative, linear, geometric designs, including three Spectrum Awards, two American Vision Awards, and awards from World Gold Council and Platinum Guild International. In 2020, she won the American Jewelry Design Council’s New Talent Competition.

2. BEST PUMPKINS. Three top carvers in Thompson’s annual pumpkin carving contest, which was held on Instagram during the pandemic, win a featured place in the shop windows over Halloween. Winners also receive a geode and a gift card to the shop. It’s open to individuals or families who live within the Lakeview
Roscoe Village boundaries.

3. COMMUNITY IMMERSION. Soon after opening her new shop, Thompson joined the Roscoe Village Neighbors Association and was elected to the 400-member Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce. She leads the Ambassadors Committee, welcoming and supporting new businesses to the area, and she works with chamber staff to promote member businesses to the public. She participates in the annual Shop for Schools event that provides a 20 percent return to area schools.

4. BAT AMBASSADOR. Thompson donated a prize to the Roscoe Village Neighbors for the winner of the annual Halloween house decorating contest. She made an oxidized sterling silver bat necklace and packaged it with a note to the winner inviting them to wear and enjoy the bat or redeem it for a gift card at the shop. As it happened, the winner loved the seasonally appropriate bat and chose to keep it.

5. FOCUS ON THE PHYSICAL. Marketing is designed to bring people into the store. The jewelry is photographed on the live plant displays that are part of the shop’s interior. “While our web presence is an important feature of the marketing plan, it is the hyperlocal approach that provides the energy and focus to promote the bricks-and-mortar neighborhood jewelry store,” Thompson says.

The post Chicago Jewelry Designer Ventures into Retail With Magical Spot appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Clearly, This Guy Knows Diamonds!

Craig Husar’s most memorable bridal promotion was a 5-carat diamond giveaway, which he heavily advertised for 10 weeks throughout southeastern Wisconsin on TV, billboards and buses, generating nearly 6,000 entries and one thrilled winner. To promote the contest and announce both a move and a rebranding from Lyle Husar Designs to Craig Husar Fine Diamonds & Jewelry Designs, Craig’s brother, a Chicago-based photographer, spent hours trying to capture the perfect image of Craig holding a 5-carat diamond. After nearly giving up, Craig picked up a faceted Swarovski paperweight and pointed it at the camera, which led to the perfect shot. It worked for the promotion, while also successfully branding Craig as the diamond guy of Milwaukee.

Raining Refunds

For two decades, B.C. Clark in Oklahoma has been running the promotion “Pray for Rain,” which they founded and trademarked more than 20 years ago. If it rains or snows an inch or more on a couple’s wedding day, the company refunds up to $5,000 on their engagement ring. They’ve had 225 winners (and counting), and the promotion never seems to lose its allure.

A Good Deal Can Be Irresistible

With an offer of up to 50 percent off, April’s two-day bridal sale at four of Bernie Robbins’ locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey was the most successful in its history. The diamond-specific bridal event included loose diamonds, mountings and wedding bands. Bernie Robbins buys most of their diamonds directly from De Beers and Alrosa, so they worked with these sightholders to bring in diamonds for the event. The sales team reached out through social media and email while the company increased its digital spend significantly. They worked with local partners to spread the word about the sale and sent a postcard mailer to their customer database, along with several e-blasts. Appointments were encouraged but not mandatory.

Would You Like A Honeymoon with That?

Tim and Sharon Ell of Zorells Jewelry in Bismarck, ND, found a way to send 80 couples to Cancun. Any couple who spent more than $4,000 on an engagement ring also got a honeymoon. “We drive most of our events around bridal, and a whole lot of people in central North Dakota are getting engaged because they want to go to Cancun!” says Tim, who bought dozens of vacation packages at a time and ran the promotion from January into the spring.

What? My Bride Needs A Gift, Too?

In a recent email campaign, New York City retailer Marisa Perry promoted the custom of grooms giving gifts to brides on their wedding days, both by clearing up confusion about the practice and suggesting specific gift items ranging from $800 to $5,600. It can be a significant add-on sale that may otherwise slip between the cracks of your bridal outreach. Headlined “The Wedding Gift. What is it, why it matters, and how to get it right!”, it continued, very conversationally, “A question we often get from our gentlemen is ‘What is the wedding gift? Is it a real thing, and what is it supposed to be?’ We get it, in a world of endless gifting, one more on the list can feel a little overwhelming! But don’t worry: this one is a really special one, and we are going to make it very easy!” That is followed by explaining the importance of the wedding gift through emotional imagery of real couples on their wedding days and eight staff gift suggestions ranging from earrings and tennis bracelets to statement necklaces.

Can We Make Our Own Rings?

MAKE MADE Jewelry owners Katie Poterala and Danielle Miller Gilliam devoted half of their available square footage in their Greenville, SC, store to making jewelry and holding classes, including their popular wedding band workshops, which appeal to the experience seekers. They’re also showcasing their classes and in-house design and redesign processes via “behind the scenes” stories on Instagram, so their audience gets to see step-by-step how things are made.

What About the Wedding Party?

Mary Jo Chanski says visibility at bridal shows and a focus on all types of wedding related jewelry is one secret to success for Hannoush Jewelers in Rutland, VT. “Planning a wedding, typically on a budget, is tough. Stressful. Expensive!” she says. “We like to put the bridal party gift bug in their brains as soon as possible.” Along with a display case of wedding sets and bridal jewelry for the wedding day, they also bring samples of gifts for bridesmaids and groomsmen. “Flasks and knives seem to be great choices for the guys and pearl slides for our bridesmaids.” Engraving is available and they make the simple pearl slides in-house. “If you make yourself available to the customer not just as the person who sells them their rings, but is also helping them to plan ahead and save money, time and stress than they are forever grateful to you.”

As Addictive As Potato Chips

Steve Quick Jewelers in Chicago recently promoted a wedding and stacking band trunk show featuring a visit by jewelry designer Kalee Sholdt. The idea behind the promotion addressed the importance of the stacking trend in bridal, and donating a portion of the proceeds to the Quicks’ favorite nonprofit, Gem Legacy, added value for the socially conscious millennial and Gen Z ring shoppers. Highly professional social-media imagery associated with the promotion was sure to catch the eyes of collectors coveting endless options.

The post Jewelers Get Creative When Promoting Wedding Sales appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

The Malkas See Their Future Beyond Four Walls

Ronnie & David Malka

When husband-wife team David and Ronnie Malka set up Malka Diamonds & Fine Jewelry in a historical building in the mini-diamond district of downtown Portland, OR, their business model was based on person-to-person communication, much of it consultations about custom design with David, a graduate gemologist. E-commerce was something they thought they’d get to at some point, but it seemed like a huge undertaking to contemplate.

In mid-March of 2020, forced to close due to a pandemic lockdown, Ronnie sprang into action, quickly linking a Shopify account to the website and posting a curated selection of inventory focused on unique settings and the kinds of gemstones popular with their young, wedding-minded clientele: salt-and-pepper and geometric-shaped diamonds, sapphires and vintage bridal pieces.

E-commerce, digital communication and their already-established social media have been vital ever since.

“Because we’re a brick-and-mortar store, we’re able to engage with FaceTime, virtual appointments, phone calls,” Ronnie says. “If they have questions, we immediately answer. It feels like it’s an extension of the store.”

They’ve also sought feedback from online clients and, in response to learning that out-of-state clients seek assurances that the store is LGBTQ-friendly, Ronnie added an entire landing page to the site to ensure they got a proper welcome.

By mid-May, small shops in Portland were allowed to reopen, and the Malkas lined up appointments. On May 31, a peaceful gathering of speakers convened in downtown Portland to honor George Floyd and talk about the Black Lives Matter movement. Soon, though, that peaceful crowd was overtaken by angrier people, not affiliated with BLM, who were intent on destruction. When police pushed them out of the area around the Justice Department, they moved into a commercial area, damaging and looting an Apple Store and a Louis Vuitton location. Eventually, they found the diamond district of Portland.

“We saw it on the news, and then we saw it on our surveillance camera,” Ronnie says. “A hundred people came through there and destroyed the store, pushing over showcases.” Unfortunately, that happened more than once. “There were weeks and weeks of it. Every jewelry store in town got hit at least twice.” In response, the Malkas commissioned a local artist to paint words of support for BLM on their boarded-up windows.

Their storefront is still boarded up, but the Malkas have moved on. “We had no choice really,” Ronnie says. “It wasn’t going to be safe.” Because the space was in a historical building, they weren’t able to alter the facade of the building to make it less vulnerable.

At first, they set up shop in office space nearby. Although there was no foot traffic, people continued to call and make appointments to discuss engagement ring projects. “That was a cool realization for us, that we’re not just the four walls we were in. We have a presence in Portland.”

Business remained good into 2021, and the Malkas have no plans to return to a street-level storefront location. Instead, Ronnie is working with an interior designer, preparing to move to a second-floor retail space in Portland’s Pearl District. Clients will be buzzed in, then they will come up the stairs to a lobby and a parlor-style space. The shop will be bigger than the old place with room for at least two jewelers in addition to office spaces and a showroom.

“It’s going to be a unique, fun, user-friendly environment, and I think our customers love that one-of-a-kind custom feel,” she says.

Marla Aaron Renovates And Reaches Out

Marla Aaron

On March 11, just days before New York City shut down businesses in response to COVID-19, jewelry designer Marla Aaron signed a lease on the biggest space her company had ever occupied, a 5,300 square-foot office floor in Midtown’s Diamond District to be built out with a 500 square-foot showroom.

At the same time she realized what such a closure could mean to her business, Aaron quickly learned there’d been exposure to COVID-19 in her office. “It was completely terrifying,” she says.

Aaron launched her business in 2012 on Instagram, and at least 60 percent of her business is still direct to consumer, either online or in the showroom. She has also sold fine jewelry from a specially designed pop-up vending machine inspired by a trip to Japan.

In 2020, she completed her gut-job renovation, designing a retail showroom that embraces the functional maximalist style the company is known for, with a giant leather chesterfield sofa mixed with old airline lounge chairs upholstered in magenta wool from the Concorde Lounge.

They also fine-tuned the Zoom client experience, rehearsing what they’d do and say. Each Zoom meeting was staffed with two team members, who learned how to show product effectively on the website while also communicating personably.

Marla Aaron and her team installed a pop-up vending machine in Rockefeller Plaza to sell charms benefiting local restaurant owners.

Aaron found strength in 2020, in particular, by sharing her good fortune and encouraging teamwork.

Every Mother’s Day since 2015, she has given away a sterling silver piece of her signature lock jewelry to single moms in a campaign called Lock Your Mom. The first year she gave away 50; this year, she’s ready to give away 1,000. In 2020, when she rallied her team to prepare for the annual event, it bolstered morale and gave employees quarantined at home something meaningful to work on. “It put us on the right path mentally,” she says.

A new philanthropic effort born in 2020 was inspired by the plight of restaurants, which put Aaron’s own business challenges in perspective. Throughout the year, as Aaron regularly walked about 40 blocks from her office in Midtown toward her residence in East Harlem, she noticed the efforts restaurant owners had made just to stay open. One day, she’d see an outdoor space with flowers, the next day the flowers would be gone, and a day after that, a bubble would pop up to try to protect diners from the cold. “I thought, these business owners are ripping their hearts out trying to make their businesses work in New York in the middle of winter.”

That observation inspired her Take a Seat for Restaurants initiative. In early December, when she Googled “What is the most common restaurant chair in the world?” she realized it was the classic aluminum chair she’d seen stacked up all over New York. She talked with her team about making a 2-inch sterling silver replica charm of the chair that could be sold online as well as in a vending machine pop-up in a high-profile location.

Marla Aaron’s new showroom features maximalist colors, shapes and textures, and can be accessed by appointment only.

She contacted Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen, which quickly embraced the idea. “Then I thought, ‘How cocky can I be?’ I called Rockefeller Center and they said, ‘You can put that vending machine wherever you want.’” The charm, which debuted in mid-February, retails for $250. All proceeds benefit World Central Kitchen, which uses the power of food to heal communities while keeping restaurants in business.

By protecting her staff, forging ahead with business plans and finding ways to help others, Aaron achieved more than she thought she could in a tough year. A year ago, her only goal was to get to the end of 2020. “We did much better than that,” she says.

Emergency Protocol Plan Saves The Holidays For Thom Duma

Jackie and Tom Duma

The biggest challenge Tom Duma faced last year surfaced with a case of the sniffles in November.

Early in the month, Thom Duma Fine Jewelers in Warren, OH, had rocked a bridal event, creating momentum and a strong start to holiday sales. But not long after, one member of the six-person sales team tested positive for COVID-19.

Nearly everyone on staff had had contact with someone who had been exposed to the coronavirus.

On Nov. 20, the store closed while everyone quarantined and got tested.

By the time they reopened on Black Friday, the team had devised a new business model with the goal of keeping employees healthy while staving off another shutdown.

An administrator and a jeweler each worked on a lower level in closed offices, communicating only by phone. Sales staff was divided into two teams of three. One team worked Monday, Wednesday and Friday; the other worked Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. They rotated on weekends. On days the teams worked from home, they set up appointments, made virtual sales calls and engaged in clienteling. Duma went home to work indefinitely, on call in case either team had a COVID scare. A security guard ensures only six people are in the small space at any one time, scans foreheads for fevers, and signs in each customer, who must don a mask and use hand sanitizer.

“As it turned out, we had the best November of my career and we were open only three weeks,” Duma says. “We made it through with no more sickness and managed to have sales similar to last year in December. We also stepped up virtual selling, curbside drop-off and pickup along with delivery to home or office.

Thom Duma Fine Jewelers had to close due to COVID-19, subsequently reopening with procedures in place to prevent another outbreak.

“It was the first time in 40 years I didn’t work the sales floor in December,” Duma says. “I love it. I’m finding more time to analyze and strategize.”

Last spring, Duma and the team set the tone for a successful year during the initial seven-week shutdown by calling their top 10,000 customers to ask what they might need. They started out by saying, “This is not a sales call. Just wanted to reach out and see how you are doing during these trying times.” After that, they would allow the customer to drive the conversation. Some were short, while others lasted over 30 minutes. The team was instructed not to bring up jewelry or sales unless the customer did. The calls led to the business donating 1,000 rubber gloves to an ambulance service and delivering lunch to some 50 clients. They even paid one customer’s rent. Others simply asked for prayers.

Optimism And Community Support Sustain Windy CityDiamonds

Garry Zimmerman, owner of Windy City Diamonds in Chicago, has a newly renovated showroom, but the process to get there was heart-wrenching.

Garry Zimmerman

After being shut down initially for COVID-19, Zimmerman responded like many other retailers did, working with clients on Zoom and posting updates on Facebook and Instagram. He was scheduled to reopen June 1, but on May 28, burglars invaded the store, which is in a prominent corner location on Jeweler’s Row in Chicago. The intruders, he says, were members of organized gangs unaffiliated with Black Lives Matter.

On Friday night, they used a pipe to break a couple of their 10-by-14-foot glass-paneled windows, leaving a mess, which Garry, his brothers and a cleaning crew spent 11 hours cleaning up.

On Saturday night, Zimmerman watched security camera surveillance for four hours as intruders returned, senselessly breaking every piece of glass in the store as well as every computer, desk and cabinet. They used hammers to punch holes in the cabinets. They dropped an expensive microscope from a second story landing into the stairwell. “I kept calling the police and the building security, and they didn’t do anything. I saw someone walk in with what looked like a stick of dynamite and I thought they were trying to blow up my vault.”

But jewelry was locked up. They didn’t take a thing.

“Twice was really disheartening, but I quickly jumped on trying to rebuild,” Zimmerman says. “It took us six weeks to put the store back together. We replaced all showcases, desks, computers, equipment and were finally ready to open.

We were open for one week and there was one more evening of riots in Chicago, which again did a lot of destruction in our store. This time, intruders broke a picture window, climbed through and went straight to the vault. They knew exactly where to go, but we have a high- security vault and they came in with only a hammer and a chisel.

“Being broken into three times really was mentally challenging for us, but we persevered, rebuilt again, and we finally opened up our store again. We were blessed to have many of our past clients come in to support us and we had a strong fourth quarter, but all in all the year has been a mental roller coaster.”

Windy City Diamonds’ plight garnered extensive media attention, and with that came community support and referrals. “We have a very good reputation and a nice client base and people were pouring out to help us remain in business.”

Zimmerman had planned to rearrange the whole store, but in the end settled on the floor plan he had in the beginning, which makes the most of the small space. Upgrades include wallpaper, wood floors and a mural painted on one of the walls that illustrates the custom design process.

Zimmerman found strength in 2020 in both his natural optimism and in the importance of supporting his staff. “When COVID hit, we applied for PPP, but in the meantime, I paid everyone 100 percent even though they weren’t working.

I was able to keep my staff whole even after the destruction.”

Love Is The Theme For Steve And Melissa Quick

Melissa Quick

By June, It had been a long year already for Steve and Melissa Quick, owners of Steve Quick Jeweler in Chicago.

The mandated COVID-19 shutdown came on March 18, the day before their highly anticipated wedding band trunk show was scheduled to begin with 62 confirmed appointments.

They had optimistically rescheduled it for June. Two days prior to their scheduled reopening the first week of June, the Quicks were summoned to the store by their alarm company, which warned Steve and Melissa that police would be unable to meet them there. Every jewelry store alarm on the North Side had sounded within 20 minutes.

“We were targeted,” Melissa says. “They had bricks and baseball bats and started hitting the windows to break them. Fifteen people piled out of three cars and went through the windows racing into the store for whatever they could grab.

Then almost as quickly as they came, they drove away.”

After they left, Steve arrived, clutching only a claw hammer. Drivers slowed to size up Steve, his hammer and his friend who had joined him to try to protect the store. Ultimately, the vigil that night was successful, if harrowing. But danger persisted. By night three, they’d teamed up with a neighbor to hire a security guard.

Melissa says they were fortunate because the store didn’t need to be rebuilt. “They got a cash drawer with a few hundred dollars and a lot of base metal sample rings. At some point, you know they showed up at a pawn shop or a recycling place and found out what that was worth. That’s my payback to them. The glass cost more to replace than what they got.”

They knew they’d have to wait eight weeks for glass replacement because “the entire city was broken,” says Melissa, which meant they wouldn’t be back to what counted as normal in 2020 till mid-August. “It’s hard to sell sparkly jewelry when your store is covered in plywood.”

But the Quicks reopened the second week of June anyway, painting messages of love on the plywood, which later morphed into a huge “love” mural on the side of the store.

“My sister, who works here, has two little kids, so they filled the whole front of the store with hearts while it was closed,” says Melissa. “The message was, ‘We’re not here, but we’re sending love.’”

“Love” began as a personal intention that became part of the business ethos.

When the glass was smashed and replaced with plywood, the team painted hearts on it. “We decided to paint a message of positivity because some people were being negative about the protests. Our mindset was: Love wins.”

When they did reopen, they were limited to five people per 1,000 square feet, the size of their showroom. They had decided to pivot to an appointment-only business, anyway, and Melissa offered curbside service and made home deliveries to established clients. “I was meeting people on their porches to show them jewelry,” she says. “Delivery endeared us to all of our clients who felt isolated and in a tough spot.”

That mode of business has endured. “Appointment-only has been transformational for us,” Melissa says. “I never utilized FaceTime or Zoom prior to the pandemic, unless a client had moved away. Now with a lot of people not going into a store in a year, it’s become more of a way to communicate.” Clients who want to shop in the store use the website as a catalog and know what they want to see.

Christmas success came as a pleasant surprise, with the best December since 2012, even though they were open five days a week and only by appointment. Usually in December, they’d be working 10 hour days, seven days a week, and would feel wrecked even before the biggest rush hit.

“We didn’t work like fiends,” Melissa says. “We watched Christmas movies, Zoomed with friends and actually enjoyed the holiday season. Go figure! I can tell you we will never do 50-plus hours a week in December again.”

FOR CLODIUS & CO. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION

Mark and Monika Clodius

For Mark and Monika Clodius, 2020’s most haunting memory was of standing in the smashed-out vestibule of their store in the middle of an early summer night, surrounded by broken glass while carrying guns and waiting for the building to be secured. Organized groups of jewel thieves were taking advantage of police distraction engendered by Black Lives Matter protests and random looters.

All year, the couple had been forced to think on their feet, while adapting to ever-changing conditions. They learned how to sell engagement rings in their parking lot and they now offer a personal shopping service that works with FaceTime, phone or text. They’re inching toward e-commerce and offering contactless service. A goal for 2021 is to upgrade inventory photography.

“My general set point is optimistic,” Mark says. “I’m not scared of failing, and I’m not trying to set a record in sales this year, either.” They embraced the philosophy of “failure is not an option.”

They’ve shifted their focus to making the most of what they have on hand already, from personnel to inventory. “We have assets that are human and we have assets that are material, gold and gemstones,” Mark says. “We’re using our human assets to leverage our material assets into making jewelry for ourselves, especially diamond basics and bridal; instead of buying a line, we try to find styles and trends and make a ring or two that hits some of those trends.”

They were able to defer mortgage payments through an SBA program, obtain PPP funding and bring back furloughed employees at reduced hours. “We’re happy to have a business that enables our employees to pay their bills.” The Clodiuses also did whatever they could to cut costs; buying a lawn mower and taking care of their own grounds maintenance saved a few thousand dollars in 2020.

“I’m very thankful that some of the things we’ve done proved to be good decisions,” Mark Clodius says. “Even some of our inaction. We are over-inventoried and have been for many years. Having these things enabled us to sell down our inventory at regular prices and that really helped the company financially, coupled with making and remaking inventory.” While bridal has been strong, so have colored gemstone rings. “That speaks to a strength we’re paying more attention to,” Mark says.

Every year that their local newspaper has done a “best of community,” including 2020, Clodius & Co. has been voted best jeweler.

“I know we have a good customer base, and it’s important to be there for them and try to anticipate what that’s going to mean. There’s something to be said about keeping a small business going.”

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