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How JB Hudson Went From A Reclamation Project To Beyond Expectations | September 11, 2013 (0 comments)
Minneapolis, MN—Jeannie Joas was a JB Hudson fan long before she bought the company. A Minnesota native, Joas says that JB Hudson was "the most recognized and most admired" jewelry company around when she was growing up.
When the chance came in 1992 to purchase the venerable jeweler out of bankruptcy, Joas and partner Jim Cargill teamed up to buy it. Joas and Cargill had previous partnered in a venture called Facets Fine Jewelry. After the JB Hudson purchase, they eventually closed Facets, which was located just one escalator and a hallway from JB Hudson. The Joas-Cargill partnership continued until Cargill passed away in 2007. At that time, Joas with some friends, the Pohlad family, bought the business.
Today, Jeannie Joas is JB Hudson's president and CEO. But her journey to reclaim JB Hudson's extraordinary reputation really began with that first moment in 1992.
"Buying JB Hudson was a great purchase, but it was a lot of work. We bought a tarnished reputation, tarnished employee morale and tarnished inventory. It's taken a lot of hard work to bring her back to her glory.”
Exterior of JB Hudson flagship, top of page. Above, the Ridgedale mall store in Minnetonka.
Surely the hardest reclamation project was the employees. "It was very difficult," says Joas. "We had a lot of group meetings with the message that we were here for them (the employees), to support them, to bring the store back. It took about three years for all the components to come together. During that time we interviewed all the employees, restructured the compensation plan, and totally re-merchandised the store. Along with working on our employee partnership, we also had to rekindle our relationships with vendors."
JB Hudson CEO Jeannie Joas
JB Hudson has not only recovered nicely under Joas' tutelage, the store prospered. Since 1922, the flagship location had been located inside what is now a Macy's department store location, separated from the store only by a wrought-iron gate. In May of 2008, Joas took the store and her team and moved down the block, into the historic Young Quinlan Building. The move offered more space and street exposure in the corner building.
"We had a great architect team," said Joas. "They took my whole vision and made it work." Joas vision included using the best of the old and the best of the new in the space. That was accomplished by retrofitting antique showcases into the new space and adding antique chandeliers. "Then we added some funk and hip to attract the younger clientele."
Joas also added an Ippolita boutique, fun art and furniture, and a contemporary watch atrium and a lot of color. "We've achieved our mission," says Joas. "People love our store." JB Hudson is now known for the most intimate diamond room in Minnesota, complete with draperies and crystal chandeliers.
Two interior views of JB Hudson's downtown store.
JB Hudson has 11,000 square feet with 8,500 of that devoted to the selling floor. The company today has two locations; the flagship store in downtown Minneapolis and a mall store in Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka. There are 33 employees between the two locations, along with three certified watchmakers and a bench jeweler whose department is expanding soon.
JB Hudson's inventory mix is one-third bridal, one-third watches and one-third fashion. The three categories represent more than 45 brands, including JB Hudson's own house bridal brand, 'be engaged by JB Hudson.'
The store's colorful Ippolita and Cartier boutiques.
JB Hudson also has a smart tagline, 'beyond expectations. within your means.' "It actually was a long process for us to come up with that tagline," says Joas. "We worked with our marketing team and our ad agency. We've been in business since 1885 and are known as a luxury jeweler. So that's both good and bad. People think we’re expensive and we wanted to break down the threshold resistance. We want people to have an incredible experience when they walk into JB Hudson. We have something in every customer’s price range and they are often surprised by that."
JB Hudson also had its own Rewards Program. It was started in May 2012 and has more than 1,650 clients on its roster today. What's the most expensive item that's been redeemed? In July, JB Hudson had a client redeem points to go towards her Omega Ladymatic watch for $16,700.
The JB Hudson website has been updated and redesigned, with amazing results, especially compared to more traditional methods of reaching customers. "We have scaled back print advertising," says Joas. "The only time we really advertise in newspapers is for specific events. We do Facebook and we've worked really hard on the website. Of course, it's never a finished product, but despite the fact that it's a whole heck of a lot of work, it's offered us huge results."
How huge? Traffic from last year to this year has increased an amazing 86% increase. "It's a combination of our in-house team and an outside web expert. We do a lot internally. It's a great system and it came from a great team effort," says Joas. The increase in traffic is due to the redesign, which enhanced the Minnesota Twins (baseball team) Kiss Cam videos featured on the website, the new online store, along with some e-marketing.
So, with all this going on, how does Joas spend her time? "Mostly at the downtown store," she admits, "where we do all the buying and marketing. It's our central store and I live my life mostly downtown."
Joas has a love for color and a joie de vivre that comes through in her voice, even on her voice mail message, wishing callers to "Have a sparkling day!" And while she loves the various facets of the business, her favorite part is simple. "Making money," she says with a laugh.