Samuel Sutlive
Written in March and April
Changing Times in the
Ebb and Flow of a Small Jewelry Store
Did
you ever stop to think about how a small jewelry store operates everyday?
Customers
may think that jewelry storeowners put ads in newspapers and magazines, make
art and display jewelry in display cases in their store. Jewelry storeowners do
these things but are also taking care of the business and economic side of
their jewelry store.
Athena Jewelers is a “custom design
jewelry and repair business that represents artists local to global [selling]
handmade crafts in the United States,” owner Danna J. Lea said.
Lea
began with a studio in 1988 in her home making jewelry for customers and
working on repairs for local businesses.
In
1990, Lea moved her home-based business to a location on College Avenue because
she said she wanted to keep her family time and work time separate.
“I
had regular customers and then the 8 or 9 stores I was doing work for that was
already established. I just moved my operation to my retail spot on College
Avenue. I had generated income that I knew I could count on,” Lea said.
Athena
Jewelers’ customers followed Lea and her business from her home studio to
College Avenue, then to Clayton Street and now to Jackson Street where the
business currently resides. Lea said the Jackson Street location “upscaled our look,
downscaled our overhead” and the quality and frequency of customers increased. The
rent for the new store location on Jackson Street is cheaper; however, the
quality of Athena Jewelers’ inventory has improved, Lea said. She has gotten
rid of the costume jewelry that she sold on Clayton Street, Lea said.
Lea
said, “We actually have more square footage than the old location. We went from
800 square feet to 1,200 square feet.”
In
the six months since Lea moved into a building of law offices on Jackson Street,
she has picked up new customers. Some of the new shoppers are from Athens law
firms, and some are visiting attorneys from Atlanta and California.
Lea
used to try to attract shoppers to Athena Jewelers by creating ads in different
magazines and newspapers that were 2 inches by 3 inches, cost $500 and only ran
one month.
Lea
feels that she now gets more response from social media including Facebook, Twitter
and blogs than she ever did with a 2 inch by 3 inch ad. “The cost and return
for the money of the paper ads was not good enough,” Lea said.
The
“hardest thing about being in business is having working capital. To do it
right you need a little bit of savings in case something happens,” Lea said.
Lea must plan for all expenses whether it is getting a window replaced, an air
conditioner fixed or buying extra inventory.
When
Athena Jewelers was on Clayton Street Lea had to replace the storefront window
four or five times, which cost her around $750 each time the window broke.
“I
wear all the hats here, the pay people hat, the bill payer hat, the manager
hat, the repairer hat, the jeweler design hat and the ordering to buy for the
store hat,” Lea said.
She
said, “the last five years has been the biggest struggle of our business-
moving, the economy tanked, you know people aren’t buying luxury items. Jewelry
is a luxury item, hand painted silks are a luxury item, a beautiful hand turned
wood bowl, they are more apt to go to Walmart and buy a plastic Tupperware than
they are to come down and buy a nice bowl for their fruit to sit in.”
“The
recessionary conditions of high unemployment and low consumer confidence during
2008 and 2009 caused sales to decline significantly,” according to a report:
Retail Jewelry Industry in U.S. on www.polygon.net.
Despite
the fact that jewelry is a luxury item and that gold became really expensive,
people are still interested in buying jewelry.
“Silver
is more popular than gold,” Lea said, adding that students and Athens citizens can
afford it.
“Gold
is so expensive that silver is the new gold,” Lea said. Silver is priced at
around $45 an ounce while gold is priced at around $1,600 an ounce, according
to Lea. A lot of people like the white color that silver can give, which is the
same look as white gold, and is cheaper, Lea said.
If
people want to have a silver ring made they can bring a design idea into Athena
Jewelers or they can email it to Lea. She can then copy the idea from the email
attachment or scan the design into computer aided design (CAD), program that
helps artists make jewelry out of new designs. CAD is a good way to see how the
customer’s idea will look in the design’s final form.
“In
any art application, you choose the best tool and you use that tool to create”
the best piece of art, Lea said.
According
to a report: Retail Jewelry Industry in U.S. on www.polygon.net, “in order to
excel in this new business climate, jewelry business owners should be looking
at their sales strategies and brand identities and keep in mind that nowadays,
buyers and sellers are not always just across the street but all around the
world.”
Even
though www.polygon.net suggests that jewelry businesses need to look abroad at
the interests of the growing Indian and Chinese middle classes, Athena Jewelers
represents artists locally and throughout the United States.
Barbie
Levy’s earrings and necklaces that are made with wire and glass tubes sell well
in Athens and are sold in Florida and Arizona among other states. Lisa Schallert
makes sterling silver jewelry in the shapes of bugs and animals. Schallert has
a company called Animal Vegetable Mineral, which also sells well in
Athens.
Lea
markets her business by representing artists from all over the United States.
She also gets exposure by being right there in Athena Jewelers ready to adjust
a watch, help conceive a design and make repairs, Lea said.
Reflecting
over the years of experience in the business of jewelry making and where she is
with Athena Jewelers Lea said, “The store is on a positive track- its road to
recovery. It’s different, it’s changed, it’s cool, it’s beautiful in here.”
