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Building The Big 33 | July 17, 2014 (0 comments)
Santa Barbara, CA—Armed with her love of jewelry, her grandfather's jewelry store address (33), and inspiration to create an amazing jewelry store, Diane Garmendia of 33 Jewels at El Paseo (left) dazzles her customers daily.
33 Jewels is one of about 70 stores selling some kind of jewelry (Garmendia estimates 15 sell fine jewelry) in tourist-rich Santa Barbara, but it's a nine-year- old store with a difference. "We're the only woman-owned fine jewelry store in Santa Barbara," says Garmendia. "Being woman-owned makes a difference. Women think differently. We're wired differently. Our customers include the woman self-purchaser looking for a certain style of merchandise in various price points, to a man wanting a solution to a gift-buying situation. We help him find the right piece; one that she will wear, not one that will sit in a drawer."
While Garmendia loves her self-purchaser and gift-giving customers, her favorite is a bridal customer. And looking at her Facebook page with many posts of smiling couples, she's obviously successful at it.
"Our tagline is “Engaging Santa Barbara Since 2005,'" says Garmendia. "We sell a lot of engagement rings. We have a great success rate at closing people by making them feel comfortable. Jewelry stores can be intimidating. Our bridal customers may be a young couple, the first time around, or a bridal couple later in life. We help them figure out what their lifetime rings will look like."
Diane Garmendia with a Santa Barbara charm.
So how does Garmendia make her customers feel comfortable? "We know that even just walking in our store needs to be an experience. The walls are a softer color, the cases are hand carved, we have truffles out, candles sprinkled around. We offer them a drink, from fine Scotch to wine to water. We create a welcoming environment."
The environment is one facet, but the individual attention is another. "We want to hear what they have to say. We spend lot of time with our customers. Many times a customer comes in to a jewelry store and feel if they don't have certain amount to spend or don't know what they want that they won't linger and then they leave. It's our job to figure out what they want and to pull it out of them. We do that in a comfortable environment."
Busy behind the counter.
So how does a store in a town with so many stores selling jewelry reach their customers? Turns out, the answer is having them come to the store, so: location, location, location. "We have an amazing location with a ton of walk-ins," says Garmendia. "For advertising we do print in the local newspaper, some tourists publications and a lot of direct mail. For social media, we do Facebook and Pinterest. We also donate to charities. It gets our name out there and makes those at a charity event feel good and want to support us. We show up in person to many functions and hand out a ton of business cards. Good one-on-one experiences."
Special events are another promotional tool for 33 Jewels. Garmendia has, over time, changed how she deals with those. "We've cut back on special events. We were having too many, so they weren't very 'special' anymore. Now, to get our customers in, we do sort of a three-ring circus. We have two jewelers doing different things such as a watch line and a jewelry line, tie in a charity group that receives a portion of sales, add in local musicians, local florists, etc. and it hits on many levels."
Garmendia's original schedule of events took away from everyday business. She prefers to take care of the customers that she has, cultivating her customer base so they come back again and again. "That takes a lot of work."
One new tool for Garmendia to use to track both customers and inventory is The Edge software. "I can see what's selling and what's not and it helps us keep up with our customers. It's new and we're very optimistic about it."
While 33 Jewels loves and carries a number of brands, Garmendia says, "The best brand we carry is us." She recognizes that there are many choices in her town and for her, it comes back to outstanding customer service. "Our personalities help our customers figure out what to buy. Men will walk in; they often just stand there. They know they are supposed to be buying something. We gently ask what they are looking for, show them the choices, and help them find the right gift. It makes us feel good and makes them happy to solve their gift buying challenges."
33 Jewels has 1,500 square feet with a sales floor of 750 square feet. "We just installed a shop upstairs next to our office for London-born, classically trained gold and platinum smith, Lee Charles Buckingham; we're putting in a private seating area there as well. For staff, besides me we have two full time and one part time person."
Garmendia has a history in the jewelry industry, although she didn't grow up in the business. "My grandfather was a jeweler in New Jersey. My mom and aunt never took over the business; they were both stay-at-home moms. When I moved to California, I had an arts and interior design background. The decorating style is very different between New Jersey and California. So I was networking like crazy to figure out my next step. I went to every event to meet people. I kept running into a man who told me I should work for him. And we kept running into each other. Finally I did got to his store, Oliver and Espig jewelers, and saw 'art on a small scale.' I agreed to work there part time. And after six years I'd traveled all over and gone to Basel five times. Working there gave me a good background for jewelry, quality, and craftsmanship, and understanding how pieces are made."
During this time, Garmendia had helped her then-boyfriend open a restaurant. She got the feel of ownership helping him get set up and also designing the interior. "Just then a 'for lease' sign appeared at my favorite location. My first choice. Not second or third. I jumped on it," says Garmendia.
And her advice for those not in a family store? "I'm not intimidated, not by the Internet, not by the competition. Running a store requires stamina. A lot of it. I didn't inherit my father's business, so I have to have the work ethic of the first generation and risk-taking mentality of the second generation to succeed." Clearly, Garmendia has both.