Diamond Angels

RAPAPORT…

Diamonds contribute about 75 percent to our annual volume,” says Cathy Fleck, “and every one of our staff has some sort of diamond training.” She says she and her husband, Mike, made a conscious decision not to build the store around their own name and image when they named it Occasions Fine Jewelry. A major part of their retail strategy includes encouraging their staff to make important decisions without their help. “We delegate as much as possible to our people,” she says.

Twenty years ago, Mike moved from Oklahoma back to his hometown of Midland, in West Texas, to begin his jewelry career. He had no inventory, a single workbench, some hand tools and $286 worth of gold paid for with money borrowed from his mother. He located his shop in a corner of his uncle’s drug store and did mostly custom work.

Cathy was a local music teacher, and when Mike’s business began to grow, she stopped teaching and joined him in the business as his first full-time employee. Their first store was a 900-square-foot space in a local strip mall. After two years, they moved to a larger space in another shopping center and stayed there until 2008, when a former Denny’s restaurant went up for sale. They bought the freestanding building, made extensive renovations, and in mid-2008, opened a 5,000-square-foot operation that caters to all ages of shoppers.

Diamonds are the core of the business at Occasions Fine Jewelry, say the owners. They offer an extensive variety of cuts, colors and grades, including clarity-enhanced stones.

According to Cathy, Occasions began its diamond business by concentrating on the high end of the market, opting for diamonds in the top color and clarity ranges. “We are in an oil-producing region, so we were selling higher-ticket rings, but missing market share on lower price points,” she notes. Following the advice of a marketing consultant, the couple added engagement rings in the $900-to-$3,000 range.

Cathy says adding the lower price points “exploded the bridal market” for their store because it helped remove the intimidation factor that young people feel when entering a jewelry store. At the same time, however, the Flecks were afraid the lower prices might cost them some of the higher-end customers. That didn’t happen and today, Occasions is the biggest source of engagement rings in its community, its only major competitors being mall stores.

In terms of quality, “We are not diamond snobs,” the owners say, and while they try to avoid “the promotional stuff,” they offer a range of diamonds from D to M in color, with I1 the lowest clarity. “Our major sales are in diamonds of a carat in size,” says Mike, “and we sell over 100 per year.” 

One successful marketing idea was offering their own brand of diamonds, known as Simplicity. The 90-facet round brilliant is fashioned into rings, earrings and pendants. Joining the original round is a princess cut, which is called Simplicity Squared.

Another big decision for the Flecks was selling clarity-enhanced diamonds, which they were at first reluctant to try, but which have proven very popular with their customers. “The trick to selling these diamonds,” says Cathy, “is to explain them properly and offer customers a choice.” One of Occasions’ biggest sellers is the Angel’s Halo ring, a clarity-enhanced diamond design with a small-carat center stone surrounded by a halo of 16 small diamonds that retails for $899. The retailer offers the ring in six different total weights and sells them so fast it can’t keep them in stock.

Despite the wide range of diamonds and the diamond expertise of the staff, one should never get away from the emotional reason for buying a diamond, says Cathy. “Our sales people romance the value of the stone, as well as the reason the customer is buying it and its symbolism.” With most young couples, the man is concerned with the value and price of the diamond, while his fiancée is interested in the styling. Often, salespeople will encourage him to choose a loose diamond and to bring her in to select the mounting.

Something for Everyone

The retailers pride themselves on selling all categories of jewelry, and being able to provide jewelry for “anybody who walks in the door,” including items designed for babies and dogs. New collections of sterling silver jewelry, silver with diamonds and silver angel wings have been particularly successful.

For Christmas 2009, the Flecks staged a daily giveaway with prizes hidden all over town. They partnered with a local radio station and advertised “Angels Among Us” and gave clues where the day’s prize was located. Customers would call in with personal stories about where they found the jewelry and who was going to receive it as a gift.

On Christmas Eve, the top prize of a diamond angel wing was offered to the first person who could identify a song’s music and come into the store singing it. A nine-year-old boy recognized it and burst into the store singing “Silent Night,” and a local TV station was on hand to catch the performance. The boy delighted listeners by saying the diamond angel wing would go to his mother.