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RAPAPORT… Those with appointments fared well.
Seminars, a diamond conference and 300 exhibitors were all part of the JCK Invitational Show, held at the New York Hilton in early February. Designed for the majors, the show included buyers from a number of sectors of the industry, including BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco, Macy’s West, Mervyns, Sterling Jewelers and QVC.
“It was about coming in to make contacts. We brought people to seminars,” said Zachary Heddinger, a district manager for CR Jewelers, South Florida. “We were looking for loose and colored diamonds.”
Dale Perelman, principal, King’s Jewelry of New Castle, Pennsylvania, said that he “found a lot of interesting things. We weren’t really looking for much — some Journey pieces. We had time to talk to people and to plan ahead. We’re already planning for Christmas and some specials for Mother’s Day.”
Exhibitors had a more mixed reaction to the show. Those who had appointments fared well; those who did not found themselves twiddling their thumbs.
“The show has been good. It is a very focused group,” said Prakash Lakhi, chairman, Gemglow. “We expected to see a few appointments and we saw them. We sell mainly to the chain stores. We sold lots of rings and Journey pendants.”
Glenn Markman, executive vice president, Suberi Bros., LLC agreed, “We had a good show. We had appointments and they all showed up, so it worked well.” Journey diamond jewelry was also a good seller for Suberi Bros.
There were, however, some vendors who felt they could have done just as much business staying in the office as they did at the show.
“It isn’t a show. I blame the organizers for poor organization. They have to bring people and traffic to the show who want to find new contacts and new vendors. People won’t come back,” said Steve Weil, Fancy Colours, Ltd., a division of Moshe Namdar & Co. that specializes in fancy color diamonds.
Another vendor, who said his firm was not doing very well, admitted off the record that he only came to this show in order to secure a spot at the highly coveted June Las Vegas show.
While nothing has been set for next year as of yet, there was talk that show organizers may be changing their plans and moving to a new, as of yet undecided, location.
