Jewelry Section

Selling to Customers (From page 121)

Howard’s Jewelry, and Laura Janelle. Bacon said their biggest customer demographic is surprising: “People think our customers are the patients, but we rarely see [patients’] families. It’s our nursing staff—they are our customers,” she said. “We are open extended hours;

“I buy from so many sources. We’re close to New York City, and there are some vendors I use out of Manhattan. People are more interested in jewelry that can go with multiple looks. [Shoppers] buy a variety of lengths—I think younger people like the longer pendants, although you always want to make sure you have shorter lengths.” now we’re open on weekends. Our number one seller is clothing. We’re between Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and it’s hard to find clothing in this area. People come here because we have a variety of price points, and a good selection of clothing.”

Hospital shop buyers and managers monitor trends to keep their merchandise in line with customers’ tastes and current styles. Gottdenker said the larger “statement” pieces seem to be less popular than in recent years. “It’s back to a very classic look,” she explained. “For awhile it was the fringe earrings, and very avant garde pieces. I think it’s going back to the more classic look. Pearls are selling nicely, as are some necklaces with a double strand. We’re also selling smaller earrings— hoops are back, but smaller hoops,” she said.

Higgins has noticed similar trends in her market: “Smaller things are ‘in’ right now—people don’t want items that are too big. ‘Petite’ is going better than it ever has. We carry a company out of Canada called Pericle which has a variety of nice jewelry. We try to keep our price point low - $30 or under. I am seeing less of the ‘heavy’ stuff - I brought in some turquoise but haven’t been able to move it. We’re in Connecticut so I think our market is just a little more conservative. People want things that will go with what’s in their wardrobe. [We don’t sell] too much of the glitzy stuff, except maybe around the holidays.”

Because so many hospital shops get most of their business from their internal customers, many facilities

Continued on page 124