Anything But Ordinary

RAPAPORT… After buying a tiny log cabin more than three decades ago, Sissy Jones has built Sissy’s Log Cabin into a powerhouse jewelry store best known for substantial-sized diamonds. 

Most of the time, when a reporter telephones a retailer for an interview, it’s necessary to set up an appointment to speak at a future time. But when one calls Sissy’s Log Cabin and reaches the store owner — who, even though she’s been traveling for about a week, says, “Why not talk right now?” — one immediately gets the impression of confidence, energy and capability. Sissy Jones has all three.

In 1970, Marguerite Jones — Sissy’s birth name, which few people recognize— was driving past an old log cabin that was scheduled for demolition on the outskirts of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. As she recounts the story, she fell in love with its elegant simplicity, borrowed $1,500 and rented it for $50 a month. It had four tiny rooms and no heating or cooling system, running water or bathroom.

Today, Sissy’s Log Cabin comprises 12,000 square feet on two floors, employs eight goldsmiths, a lapidarist and a watchmaker and is filled with state-of-the-art technical equipment. This single store has become a destination stop for clients from all over Arkansas, as well as tourists from outside the region.

The specialty is diamonds and diamond jewelry, but it goes further than that. Beyond the emphasis on competitive prices and the availability of large and unique diamonds is a nonstop effort to educate, entertain and entice customers to indulge their fantasies when it comes to precious and rare diamonds.

One innovation is a $65,000 laser engraver that prints the size, serial number and grade on every diamond sold. Despite the cost, Jones says it was “worth its weight in gold,” because it instills confidence in customers and even goes so far as reducing insurance rates with many companies.

A TOAST TO DIAMONDS

At any given time, the retailer stocks about 300 engagement ring designs, as well as a full range of heads and diamonds. A customer can walk in, select a diamond and setting, have it finished, engraved and gift-boxed within a matter of hours. The presentation is all part of the magic: The jewelry is brought out to the customer on a sterling silver platter, along with champagne flutes for a toast, and a picture is taken. It’s not unusual for some out-of-towners to fly into neighboring Little Rock on a Saturday morning, visit the store and leave with their purchase before the weekend is over.

In addition to a large selection and competitive prices, good quality is a mandate. “Quality remains after the price is forgotten,” the owner says. In general, all diamonds are SI and better, with average colors in the F to H range. Diamonds are cut and graded on the premises and all are sold with a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) certificate.

While customers in this region are generally conservative when it comes to styling, large diamonds are always in vogue. In fact, just a few weeks into 2007, Sissy’s Log Cabin had already sold several 5- and 10-carat diamonds, with a couple more on hold. Not a bad record for a jewelry store in one of the most impoverished areas of the state!

Nationally advertised branded diamonds are not the focus here, because this retailer produces and markets its own brand. The Sissy’s Log Cabin diamond is available in a range of cuts and sizes and backed up by a full menu of repair and cleaning services, as well as a lifetime upgrade policy.

All this is not to say, however, that designer jewelry does not resonate here. Among those featured are Roberto Coin, Steven Lagos, Simon G., Martin Flyer and Kobelli. A full estate jewelry selection — the retailer’s first foray into jewelry — is part of the offerings, as well as status watches, including a newly installed Rolex boutique.

REACHING OUT IN MANY DIRECTIONS

Advertising, promotion and community service are all important ingredients for making this business successful, Jones says. For example, on the regular schedule are charity events benefiting the local children’s hospital and other community groups, as well as in-store trunk shows and designer appearances. One successful promotion was entitled “Colors of the Continent” and featured a rainbow of colored gemstones, along with food and dancers from Africa.

By far the most unique activity of this retailer, however, is its traveling show. Several times during the year, Sissy Jones and her crew travel to other areas of the state or neighboring states — often at the invitation of other retailers — to show and sell their diamonds and jewelry. In fact, one offbeat recent event still has her marveling.

Sissy’s Log Cabin exhibited its upscale diamond jewelry at the Big Buck Show, a statewide event dedicated to all aspects of hunting. Among the other exhibitors were guns and ammunition dealers, camouflage and outdoor equipment suppliers. There was even a contest that awarded a prize to the deer with the best antlers. The event attracted an audience of 60,000 attendees, mostly families with children.

As Jones explains it, this group was a different, and in most cases, younger crowd from the regular patrons of her store. But her very attendance brought a bounty of new, younger customers, many of whom had heard of the store, but thought it too high-end for them, and several diamonds were placed on hold. “That was the smartest thing my son made me do,” she says.

Today, in addition to her husband Murphy, son Bill and daughter Ginger — trained respectively as an engineer and a nurse — are working with her in the family business. And it’s a good thing she has help in the store because most of Sissy’s schedule involves traveling and speaking engagements at trade events, garden clubs, even local schools. “We have to go a lot of places to get the word out,” she says.

At its present size, Sissy’s Log Cabin has enough square footage, but other branches may sprout up in the near future. The owners are looking at possible venues within a 200-mile radius. Wherever the new store will be, the formula will be the same: service with a friendly, personal touch and the widest possible selection of diamonds and diamond jewelry, proving Sissy’s axiom and slogan, “Life’s too short for ordinary jewelry.”