When I bought the jewelry store a little over three years ago, the previous owners jewelry was displayed in my cases almost exclusively. For the most part, things had been on display in this store for a VERY long time, but nothing was on “sale”. There was a Refurbished Jewelry case that had a lower mark up, but wasn’t offered at a discount either.
I asked them why this was, and - long story short - they felt like the jewelry was beautiful and they didn’t mind sitting on it until the right person came along to buy the piece meant for them. This is certainly a viable school of thought - but it did leave many pieces in the case, that were anywhere between 5 and 15+ years old. (YIKES!)
Earlier this year, all of the jewelry that was owned by the previous owner - moved on to greener pastures - and now our cases are filled with all new pieces. Yet - what do I do with items that are already starting to “collect dust” (so to speak)?
Here is our “SALE” policy in a nut shell:
If an item has spent over 300 days in a case AND it has gone through one Christmas season - it is discounted from the tag price to 40% off. If it’s over 500 days old, it’s 50% off, if it’s over 750 days old - it’s either 60% (white/rose gold or sterling silver) or 70% off (yellow gold). End of story. If it’s been here that long, it’s time to get my money back out of it and reinvest it in something else.
What does that mean for you?
Well, you should come in every month and see what has been put on sale! You should also ask us to look up the age of a piece to make sure that your FAVORITE piece didn’t slip through the cracks and miss being discounted. It also means that there are pieces being sold UNDER my cost.
Truth be told, early on I asked my accountant to crunch the numbers - and he gave the minimum amount I need to mark-up a piece in order to pay my employees, my overhead, and in general - STAY IN BUSINESS. This is where our tagged price starts.
The tag never changes - the discounts get added, and you and I help each other. You get a great deal and I get my money back for reinvestment! It’s a win-win. We have fine jewelry that is as low as $22.00!
If you have any questions on how this works, come on in and I will be happy to explain it more in detail!
~Hali
