top tips from a jeweller on opening a jewellery shop
Have you ever dreamed of opening your own jewellery shop? Jeweller Sima Vaziry did just that in 2017 and her shop is still going strong. Sima gives her top advice for setting up a bricks and mortar shop.
Award-winning designer Sima Vaziry came into jewellery making as a second career from a graphic design background. After retraining, she launched her own business. It wasn't long before her work was picked up by the British Museum and her first collection for them became one of their most popular and best-selling ranges. Sima worked from her studio in Craft Central, London until they announced they were relocating. It was this that helped her take the plunge to open a shop at the OXO Tower, London with milliner Katherine Elizabeth. The shop opened in February 2017 after 6 weeks of set-up and is still going strong five years later. Sima designs and makes her jewellery from her studio in the shop.
Commitment
If you are considering setting up a shop you need to be committed to making it work. You will often need to sign a long-term lease that you are bound to so you need to think carefully about what you are taking on. You have to be there to open up and when you say you will, stay until closing and you need to have contingencies in place for who is going to open the shop if you are ill, etc. Be sure that it is right for you and your brand.
Location
When choosing the location of your shop do as much research as you can. You need to make sure that you can attract the right type of customer for your jewellery. Your potential landlord and local estate agents should have information about the types of customer you can expect that do your research. Who lives in the area? What are the house prices? Are there good schools nearby? What other shops are there? This will help to give you an idea of the type of customer you will attract to your shop and help with planning your ranges and pricing.
Budgeting
I have never had a shop before and I underestimated the cost of setting up. You need to allow between 5 K and 10 k for even a small shop. Every cost counts and little things here and there start to add up very quickly!
Earrings by Sima Vaziry
display and lighting
Many people decorate a shop the way they want to, but first and foremost you must make it attractive and pleasing for your customer. Think about what will get their attention.
Once the shop is up and running, notice what your customers look at in the shop. Which cabinets do they look in? Which don't get looked in? I found that there was one cabinet that I was selling a lot from and another that I didn't have any sales at all.
Make sure you change your display particularly if you have regular passers-by and repeat customers.
Lighting is key when selling jewellery and every cabinet and piece of jewellery needs to be well-lit. Invest in good quality LED lighting. Trust me, once you get a couple of months of bills with traditional light bulbs do you want to get LEDs! LED light is great and the electricity bills are much lower.
Cleaning
One thing I didn't think about was the amount of cleaning that needed to be done! There cannot be dust on the shelves and the jewellery must be kept polished. When I sold from my studio this wasn't a problem as I kept the jewellery tarnish-free but since displaying items I found that they need more regular polishing to keep them looking at their best.
Jewellery by Sima Vaziry
Stock levels
Accept that you will sell things! This is a good problem to have but if you have a good day your display can suddenly look very sparse if you don't have backup stock to replace it.
be prepared
When you are selling from a shop you need to do so quickly and efficiently, customers don't want to hang around. Have a good payment system that provides a receipt and make sure your bags and packaging are ready and on hand. Many people take business cards and postcards so make sure you order in bulk.
Safety and insurance
Ensure the shop is safe for you and your customers - no sharp edges, display items people can bump into, etc. Prioritise your own protection with public and product liability insurance.
Look after your personal security in the shop too. Ensure you have a plan in an emergency. Have the Security telephone number programmes on speed dial and keep your phone with you. stay alert and responsive to everyone that comes into the shop.
Setting up and running a shop is a full-time commitment, but gives you opportunities you wouldn't ordinarily have to attract and interact with customers.
Check out Sima’s website https://www.simavaziry.com/
(This article was first written by Jewellers Academy and published for Making Jewellery magazine. It has been edited for the blog and is published with the permission of GMC publications)