Jewelry Section

Where Business is (From page 149)

clientele really well.”

One thing that doesn’t work is putting your jewelry behind glass, said Gillette. Cloverkey ran an experiment comparing jewelry sales with and without glass, and found that, without glass, sales went up by about 40 per cent, and shrinkage increased only slightly.

“When you put it behind glass, if you are not available that very second to let them in and look at it, you’re going to lose the sale,” elaborated Gillette.

Displays need to be easy-to-access, and easy for the customer to touch and hold, said Gillette. If it’s on a mannequin, it’s too far away. To maximize your reachable space, you may want to use a jewelry spinner to accommodate numerous skews. You must be conscious of the space you’re giving to single items, Gillette said.

At the moment, most of the Paoli’s customers are employees. But even before the pandemic, they already made up about 60 per cent of the shoppers. To reach the employees–along with other shoppers–Paoli has a loyalty program, through which coupons can be distributed and special events may be advertised.

Hospital employees tend to be price sensitive. According to Gillette, earrings are most popular for employees, because they need to adhere to restrictions as to what can be worn on the patient care side.

Some trendy pieces do sell–which currently include pieces with thread work and straw woven designs. For the most part, however, the shoppers at Paoli go for classic items with a wide appeal. “Our most popular earrings are still the standard nickel free earrings,” Gillette said.

At the Ascension St. Thomas Hospital gift shops located in Midtown and West Nashville, Tenn., Robin Adams , manager, told us their shops were closed from March 2020, and reopened in June 2020 with reduced hours. Volunteers were not permitted to staff the stores until March 2021, so Adams and two other staff operated the stores during that time.

Sales appear to be rising again. But with only two visitors allowed in the hospital per patient and masks still required in the hospital, they are not yet back to pre-pandemic numbers in both of their 1,200-square-foot shops.

Earrings are Ascension St. Thomas’ best-selling jewelry piece, in particular Main Street by Coronet. Earrings at a price point of $9.99 sell well to both hospital staff and other customers. Ginger Snaps & Co., Davinci and Forever in My Heart are other popular brand names. Sales of these products tend to work in cycles at Ascension St. Thomas. For instance, for a time, layers will be best-sellers, and then they’ll see in uptick in Davinci sales.

They do buy from various other suppliers like Accent and Howards, which they display in jewelry cases. But these don’t move as quickly, Adams said.

Most of their jewelry is displayed just as you enter the store, said Adams. The sparkle catches customers’ attention when they first walk in, so they’ll often stop and have a look at that display.

All ages–mainly ladies–often stop by their gift shops to purchase jewelry for their grandmothers or mothers. This means that Adams must buy with an eye for universal appeal. Her customers are interested in cost effective jewelry and are fond of unusual items. In fact, they get many compliments pertaining to their unique jewelry selection. Many customers tell Adams that every time they’re in a hospital, they want to visit the gift shop because they find hospital gift shops always stock unique items.

At the Atrium Gift Shop of St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, they’re operating at their full hours, but at about 70 percent saleswise, said John Moss buyer/manager. However, they’re already ahead of projections for the year.

During the pandemic, they were closed for roughly six weeks and then opened part time, but weren’t permitting shoppers inside the store yet. St. David’s is a non-profit gift shop, where profits are directed to a scholarship fund. “We were fortunate that the hospital worked with us. We had to submit plans to every step of the way,” explained Moss.

Carole Meckes , assistant manager, said they’d been restricted to one visitor per patient in their 2,400-square-feet of selling space. These restrictions just recently eased up. They’ve had to get creative to keep sales moving by offering a personal shopping service, where one customer can make an appointment to shop the store by themselves, curbside pick-up, and have started tackling a facelift of the website, complete in September/October.

Earrings are their best-selling type of jewelry. There has been an industry slump generally when it comes to necklaces, commented Moss, but bracelets are still doing well.

They’re always looking at what’s moving and at what the trends are. At the moment, gold is trending. Currently, smaller types of earrings have been selling, and they’ve had requests for sleeker designs. They’re also selling less of the larger hoops. Some items, like clip-on earrings, are always kept in stock to offer a wide selection to customers.

They find keeping earrings by the checkout helps to sell more jewelry. Moss said simple is best: Displays that are not too crowded, easy to see and not confusing work well.

Their primary jewelry customer is 30-plus, along with hospital staff. Moss said most of the staff knows regular shoppers by name. Listening to the customers, and reading various publications to spot trends helps them know what to order.

Moss and Meckes also look at price point when buying jewelry for their demographic. “For us, when it starts to go above $20, our customers start to say ‘I don’t know if I want this,’ ” expressed Moss. ❖