Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Life of A Jeweler at a Trade Show

So....here I am today in Atlanta, Georgia preparing to go to the southeast's largest jewelry show.  Surprisingly, for "Hotlanta"...its really cold here and I'll be glad to get warmed up at the show.  Some people ask me what its like for a jeweler to go to such a large jewelry show so I'm going to tell you..

First of all, when I go to a major trade show, I keep in mind what my customer's have been asking me  for in the way of jewelry and I also look for emerging trends in the jewelry industry.  Many times, I've been able to spot a hot and upcoming jewelry trend months ahead of my competition simply because I keep abreast of such things at these shows.

Going to a major jewelry show can be a bit overwhelming when you consider there is more jewelry under one roof to look at than going to 100 jewelry stores.  The security at an event like this is just like you think it would be...tight!!  With cameras, security guards, plain clothes detectives everywhere..it would be really hard for theft to happen although I'm sure it probably does.

With hundreds of jewelry vendors to see...the scope of the whole thing is quite amazing.  I simply try to look for things I think my customers will be interested in, visit my best suppliers to see what they're offering and of course we look at what everyone says is going to be hot.

Seminars are also of great importance to me as today,  I plan to go to two different ones.  One is on the four seasons of the jewelry biz and deals greatly with how to market to my customers and the other is on Estate Jewelry buying.  We are considering do even more estate jewelry biz at The Gold Mine so this seminar will help make me even better at it.

By the end of the day, we'll have walked 10 miles or more seeing everything, talking with friends both old & new..but it will all have been worth it.  Its fun but I'm always glad to get back to downtown Hudson.

Tim Call, our store's goldsmith will be trying out lots of new jewelry repair equipment and later on we plan to have some great brazilian food...so thats it..the life of a jeweler going to a major trade show.

'til next time,

Bill Warren, Owner/Registered Gemologist
The Gold Mine of Hudson, NC
www.hudsongoldmine.com
828-726-1009