10x

A favorite retailer closes

Exhausted enough from JA New York show week to feel a bit like crying on bad news. One of my favorite independent retailers has closed its doors for good.

Since I was three, living in Yellowstone National Park, where my father was a ranger, the sport of fishing has been one of my greatest passions. Even though, as a dad and magazine editor in a time of massive upheaval, I don't fish very often these days, the thought of it is always there for me. You know that special place in our imaginations where we keep the the fantasies that help get us through the daily grind?

Part of the experience, as it is for many hobbyists, is the retail aspect, visiting that store where they have special knowledge--and all the toys you'd like to own. Ray's Sport Shop in Plainfield, N.J., was one of these--an old school, hardcore outdoorsman's shop. It's where I took my oldest son to gear up for our first fishing trip together. Many of the possessions I cherish were purchased there. 

Ray's was founded in 1947 and still had the atmosphere to prove it. It was a place that made guys like me feel good. There were aisles running every which way, dark corners jammed with gear, from all the fishing stuff you could want to bowhunting equipment and special side rooms for outfitting law enforcement officers, a segment that was big business for this store, which boasted one of the few public pistol ranges in the state.

But now it's gone, with signs on the door simply apologizing for the owners' retirement. Rumor is they sold out to the adjacent Nissan dealer for $12 million.

I've been reading "Aesop's Fables" to my sons. So I found myself looking for a moral last night. I guess it's that people get what they bargain for. People have increasingly shifted their buying patterns to online from the traditional sporting goods stores, purchasing from Cabela's, among others.

Then, of course, there's been the massive siphoning of sales by the world's largest sporting goods dealer. Guess who? (Hint: seven letters; starts with W, ends with t.) The independent retailers have seen high-margin categories, which helped support the overall business model, disappear, while margins on other products have been pressured down. Sportsmen might get staples for cheaper now, but the hard-to-find products that only a specialist would stock, and the fun, are gone. 

Style snaps from JA New York

At the JA New York Summer Show, jewelry designers continued to experiment with silver and also offered new takes on old favorites, especially diminutive versions of bestsellers. Stacking and layering pieces remain staples. And, as for stones, quartz is taking its turn in the limelight.

In miniature:

Zil, ZilJewels.com

New silver:

Zeira, Zeira.com

Quartz calling:

Amali, AmaliJewelry.com

Fashion favorites:

MeiraT, MeiraTDesigns.com

Gemstone stations:

Tresor, TresorCollection.com

Star Sighting: Rachel Bilson

 A few months ago, actress Rachel Bilson’s home in Los Angeles was broken into, with thieves making off with a trove of designer clothing, jewelry, shoes and handbags estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Though the actress cut her teeth on the hit TV show The O.C., she’s even more well known for her sharp fashion sense—something the thieves were obviously well aware of.

As reported by People, among the stolen items was her collection of jewelry, including pieces handed down to her by her grandmother.

Bilson was reportedly devastated, quite understandably. Even though she’s a designer darling and most likely gets gifted pieces round the clock, I don't feel anything can quite replace an heirloom.

People often say that if their house was burning down and there was one thing they could save it would be photographs. I think the next thing I would make a run for would be some of the jewelry worn by my family or gifted by loved ones, things that have very specific memories connected to them.

But onto happier thoughts…Bilson, engaged to actor Hayden Christensen, is picking up the pieces and is already looking like her usual fabulous self. On June 15, she helped to fete the one-year anniversary of fashion designer 3.1 Philip Lim’s Los Angeles store, where she stepped out perfectly styled with an Yvel pink sapphire and diamond cocktail ring.

Less media, more sightholders

So I found out yesterday that we’ve lost two more industry publications.
Cygnus Business Media announced Monday it was "suspending" publication of four titles and that, unfortunately, happened to include Modern Jeweler and its high-end sister publication Lustre.
My heart goes out to everybody at Modern and all other industry journalists that have found themselves out of work lately.
In any case, I just wanted to blog a little bit about two interesting bits of industry news that haven't gotten as much press as one might have thought, perhaps because there's less and less of us to report the news.
Last week De Beers announced — in a move even the company acknowledged as “exceptional” — it was adding a Botswana sightholder in the middle of the contract period, Shrenuj Botswana (Pty) Ltd.
The Indian company will be taking over a struggling cutting and polishing factory in the capital city of Gaborone, saving 150 jobs and helping to keep this wonderful country's diamond industry humming.
I'm not exactly clear how swapping one company for another is going to save a diamond factory from extinction in this economy.
I can only speculate that Shrenuj must have a stronger downstream marketing campaign than its predecessor, perhaps targeting a segment of the economy or a part of the world where diamonds actually are selling right now.
This is Shrenuj Botswana's first go-round as a Diamond Trading Co. (DTC) sightholder though its parent company, Shrenuj India Group, has had a sight with the DTC since 1982.
This is an interesting move, for sure.
Earlier this year, as demand reached a near standstill and sights shrunk to microscopic levels, De Beers introduced the idea of siphoning off its extra rough on non-sightholders, causing many to wonder if De Beers would go back to some of the companies it cut in the last realignment.
But they eventually announced that they had abandoned that idea.
A De Beers rep in Botswana said De Beers doesn't anticipate adding any more sightholders, but I guess only time will tell on that one.
In other industry news, there is yet another jewelry industry organization out there, the International Diamond Board, which is essentially the diamond industry's answer to making De Beers’ iconic “A Diamond is Forever,” or something similar, forever.
This organization is supposedly going to bring everybody - the Russians, Australians, Israelis, Indians, Americans, Africans, etc. - together to figure out an advertising campaign that, quite simply, will make consumers want to buy more than just an engagement ring.
I think it's a cool concept and one that the industry definitely needs.
From a 30-year-old woman's perspective I can tell you that my friends and I don’t spend our money buying real diamond jewelry.
We’ll drop hundreds, even thousands, on designer handbags that are out of style/worn out/we are sick of in two years or cell phones that can do everything but cook dinner.
It truly is a better investment to buy fine jewelry, particularly diamonds, but that's something that needs to be pointed out to people, young women like myself in particular.
So good luck to the International Diamond Board, which I'll call "IDB."
I don't think those initials are taken yet.

Wedding bells are ringing all over the place

I'm off to New Hope, Pa., to attend the wedding of a dear friend, one of my housemates from my mostly memorable days at Ohio University.

This wedding is just one of the many I have been involved with this year.

In each case, helping my friends with their jewelry dilemmas left me with a nice feeling, knowing I could use what I learned at this job to guide people through what can be a confusing and intimidating process.

In the case of my friend, who is marrying another OU Bobcat, I swam through one of the downpours that defined New York in June to Tejani's showroom, where I pointed out the set of bangles (costume, unlike like the fine pieces pictured here from the Diamond Information Center’s recent display) that she ultimately ended up getting.  

She was looking at a cuff but, in the end, we decided the bangles would get more after-wedding use, as they can be broken down and worn individually or in smaller sets.

Around this same time, I was working my magic back in the office for more friends, a couple from my rec-league soccer team who decided it was time to take the plunge.

After many phone calls and e-mails back and forth, I helped hook them up with an exquisite 1-carat, E-color, cushion-cut stone, and they found the perfect setting for that stone at New York’s Greenwich Jewelers, which was also my recommendation.

This couple kindly took my boyfriend and I out for a completely unnecessary but totally appreciated thank-you dinner.

While, as previously blogged, I am not a big engagement ring person, I do have to say the stone looked gorgeous and was a perfect fit for her more antique-style setting.  

No word yet on what this friend wants to wear accessories-wise on her wedding day, which is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 3.

As a side note, I am hoping this super-fun affair doesn’t conflict with another important set of fall nuptials, the wedding of my brother Jason, set for this fall in Boston.

The affair is so small—just immediate family—that no date has been set, but I’ll be going all Diane Keaton at the affair as the best woman.

(The bride's sister will be the maid of honor, while their brother is going to act as the officiant. This wedding is about as efficient and low-key as it gets.)

So far, Jason hasn't asked me to go jewelry shopping with him but, knowing my brother, my guess is he isn’t too pressed about what he’s going to wear.

My life in diamonds

Last Thursday, I trekked my happy, east-side self over to Manhattan’s west side for the Diamond Information Center’s annual diamond jewelry showcase extravaganza.
There were many pieces I wanted to take home (but won’t, as their price tag well outstrips my meager budget) and I thought the theme of this year’s event was extremely clever.
Titled “A Life in Diamonds,” the display took visitors through the milestone moments that may mark a woman’s life, from Sweet Sixteen to marriage to baby and so on.
Obviously, every woman’s life doesn’t follow this exact path, as some woman may (understandably so) never opt to get married, have children, etc., but the display does make a good point: There are many times in a woman’s life she can celebrate milestones, or simply herself, with a beautiful piece of diamond jewelry.
While it’s hard for me to pinpoint one favorite piece, I would have to say that I loved seeing black-diamond rings from one of my favorite designers, New York-based Catherine Angiel, who is both a fantastic artist and a cool person.
You can check out her designs here.
Personally, I am up in the air when it comes to engagement rings.
I understand the ring symbolizing the never-ending love and commitment between two people and I definitely would want to wear some kind of ring indicating that I was in such a relationship.
But I’m not fully convinced the woman needs an engagement ring and that she couldn’t just have a wedding band instead, saving her fiancé a lot of money that could be spent on other things, like a house or a trip.
I do know though if I did get one — a decision that isn’t just up to me, though I would have to say my current boyfriend makes marriage seem much more appealing than any of my exes — I wouldn’t go the traditional white diamond route and would opt for one of Angiel’s black diamond rings instead.
It’s just more me.