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Goodman & Sons: Building Lifetime Relationships For Three Generations | November 19, 2014 (0 comments)
Hampton, VA—"I love my sons and you will, too," says Lena Goodman on the Goodman & Sons website.
Founder Stanley Goodman and Lena, his wife, began building the company in 1947. Second-generation jewelers and brothers Eric, Stuart, and Ned continued on with the family tradition. Today, Goodman & Sons has two locations in Hampton and Williamsburg, VA (left), and the three sons are partners in the business. Recently, The Centurion spoke with president Stuart Goodman and his son, Tony Goodman, who handles the firm's marketing and merchandising.
Both generations credit Lena Goodman with the vision for the store. "My mother is still active in the store," says Stuart. "She's 86 years old. She's not here every day but when she is, she helps out, greets customers and creates good will. She loves talking to people and checking out what's she's created. She is a treasure. Everyone loves to see her."
Goodman & Sons began as many jewelry stores did around the immediate post-WWII time period. In the beginning, Stanley was in the watch repair business. He had a concession in Fort Eustis, a former army base near Newport News, VA (it merged with Langley Air Force Base in 2010.) Lena worked for the government, and was instrumental in opening the first showroom in Hampton in 1979. "She got us into the jewelry business," said Stuart. "We were into watch and jewelry repairs, trophies and engraving. We had only a bit of jewelry inventory. She, along with my father, got us into the jewelry business."
The Hampton store.
From that point, it took a few years to really get into the diamond business. "I had taken a GIA course," said Stuart. "And we [all three brothers] had all been to the Bulova School of Watchmaking prior to opening. We began with a small selection of diamonds and managed to get in diamonds on memo. My dad worked at it. People got to know my dad and the family, and we grew." Goodman & Sons has been a family effort since its beginnings.
The brothers/partners, from left: Ned, Stuart and Eric.
Today, third-generation jeweler Tony Goodman focuses on the marketing and works with father Stuart. He has been with the family business only about six months, coming from a career in food marketing. He's working on a rebranding campaign to promote Goodman & Sons to their target main customer segments: Boomers and Millennials.
"We're walking that fine line to keep both sets of consumers engaged with our brand," says Tony. "We're dividing our efforts; we want to include both groups and be precise about marketing to both but both are marketed to in very different ways."
The new approach features close to 70% of this year's Goodman & Sons marketing budget spent to build awareness and promote the brand. Approximately 20% of that is directed toward social media and digital execution. The remaining budget has been put towards creating content for new commercials and a new website.
The website redesign was a big focus for the company. "The new site focuses more on the services and experience you can expect at Goodman & Sons, and away from primarily focusing on the products we carry," says Tony. "It's not an e-commerce site yet but it’s still important that consumers can window shop." The website also offers customers the chance to set an appointment online to view the products they like. Other, less obvious, changes included tweaking the color scheme and ensuring the website is consistent with the look and feel of the Goodman & Sons brand. "We want our customers to know it's Goodman & Sons at a glance," he says.
As Goodman & Sons have two divergent customer groups, the company's inventory follows suit. What's the store's best selling category? There are two, actually. "Pandora, which drives traffic," says Stuart. "And bridal, which is our core."
Along with those two categories, the store carries a wide variety of brands. As the company's website says, "We stand behind all merchandise sold and pledge to deliver stylish designers..." It's a promise they keep.
Those stylish brands include: A. Jaffe, Hearts on Fire, Forevermark, True Romance, Pandora, Philip Gavriel, Le Vian, Galtea, Imperial Pearl, and William Henry, to name a few. Along with those, the company also carries its own diamond brand, the Lena Diamond, named after founder Lena Goodman.
Sweeping view from the main entrance of the Hampton store.
Goodman & Sons employs five jewelers on staff in two stores to handle repairs and custom work. "We also do some watch work, though not as much as we used to," says Stuart. "We offer the basics here on premises." The two stores employ 29 people. The Hampton store has 4,000 square feet of total space and the Williamsburg has 3,000 feet with 2,400 devoted to the sales floor.
More interior views of the Hampton store. Bottom is the bridal section.
Tony grew up expecting to come into the business. He joined the business briefly and then decided to leave and do his own thing working in various marketing roles in the food business. When he left, Tony was in business with his grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, and two uncles. Three years ago, he was discussing where the business would be heading next with his father, Stuart, and realized he'd like to see the business survive through more generations, a conversation that heralded his return.
"It's the best place to be," said Tony. "While retail is hard work, selling jewelry is rewarding. I'm having a lot of fun. When I was in graduate school at Penn State, we did a group project on my family business. Looking back, it seems all roads led me back to the family business."
Meanwhile, his dad Stuart, had "private, quite hope that Tony would return to the business. He was so upwardly mobile in his career, I was afraid it wouldn't happen," said Stuart. "It took a few years but he's here now."
Having the second and third generation working together at Goodman & Sons is working out well for both generations. "He's exceeded my expectations," says Stuart. "It's a huge comfort level for me to have his expertise. I'm overwhelmed by all the new factors he's brought into the business: the education and technical opportunities, as well as the family and grandchildren that we adore. It's a great renewal for me and for the entire family. Everyone enjoys him."
So what do Goodman and his son see for Goodman & Sons’ future? "We're working on building the foundation for growth," say the Goodmans. "We're working to grow existing store sales, exploring expansion opportunities in the future, and working on our increasing our Internet presence."
It's easy to see that Goodman & Sons will continue to grow as the third generation joins the company. As the company's website proclaims, "Our goal is not to make a sale; our goal is to build a relationship that lasts a lifetime." A worthy goal, and one that Goodman & Sons continues to achieve.