“Today, it’s all about relationships,” said Mariaha Rogers, owner of Rogers & Co. Fine Jewelry and Design in Missoula, Montana. “When you build a relationship with a customer, they will help you build your business, so I think that’s the most important thing.”
Missoula, Mont.--In 50 Jewelers/50 States, National Jeweler interviews one retailer in each of the 50 U.S. states to find out how they are meeting the challenges of the changing retail environment.
Mariaha Rogers grew up in the jewelry industry. When her parents retired, she and her husband, Matt, decided to open their own store, Rogers & Co. Fine Jewelry and Design.
The store’s identity is deeply rooted in Montana, due to the local, unheated sapphires that feature in much of Rogers’s custom work.
Yogo sapphires, named for the mine location in the Yogo Gulch area, are “the Cadillac of sapphires,” Mariaha Rogers explained.
“They’re very rare and hard to find in round shapes and large sizes,” she continued. “They command quite a bit of money, and we sell a heck of a lot of them. My dad was one of the main cutters for the Yogo mine back in the 1970s and 1980s, so we actually work off of our own personal collection of stones.”
Tourists to Montana regularly contact Rogers & Co. to commission custom pieces once they’ve returned from their travels.
Rogers spoke with National Jeweler about forming relationships with her customers, both locally and far away, as well as how she’s harnessing her lifetime of jewelry experience to survive as a new player in town.
Mariaha Rogers and her husband, Matt, are the owners of Rogers & Co. Fine Jewelry and Design, located in Missoula, Montana. The store, which opened in 2014, has three employees and is 1,500 square feet.
National Jeweler: What’s the biggest challenge your store is facing?
Mariaha Rogers: Definitely our biggest challenge is getting our name out there in the community since we’re only three years old. We’re a brand-new name.
The plus side is that I’ve been a jeweler my whole life. My parents had a jewelry store in town before I did, for 40 years, so I was born and raised in jewelry. My parents retired three years ago and that’s when my husband and I opened our store.
NJ: What’s the top-selling category and brand at your store?
MR: We do a tremendous amount of custom work, and I would say our custom work and our bridal sales are kind of hand in hand. We do mainly those two categories.
Our custom work is our top seller, but we do work a great deal with Stuller and S. Kashi and Sons.
That’s kind of a hard question because it’s a broad base. Our customer really varies.
We have young customers who are just graduating high school who come in, and we put together little graduation gifts for them. We also have elderly people coming in their 70s who are needing repair work on their jewelry. I would say our favorite customer would be the 25 to 65 age group.
Gender-wise, with our custom work, it’s actually about 80 percent women and 20 percent couples. With our bridal sales, I would say about we get about 80 percent men shopping and 15 percent couples, with maybe that last 5 percent encompassing that female base who comes in and does the preliminary shopping.
It’s kind of funny these days with pictures and technology--these guys have it so easy. They come in and they have a picture that (their girlfriend) sent them and that’s where our custom work comes in and we make them happy every time.
NJ: What’s the most popular style of engagement ring with your clientele now?
MR: I’m seeing a lot of infinity and twisted-style engagement rings. We’re definitely still selling some halos, but not as many as we were in the first two years that we were here.
I would say really the simplistic designs, the accented engagement rings with a bigger center stone, are selling the best.
Rounds are our most popular diamond shape. We do sell quite a few cushion cuts, princess cuts and ovals, but I would say rounds are our number one. White gold is definitely still the No. 1 metal, and we do a little bit in palladium and rose gold; we see some requests for that now and then.
NJ: Which social media accounts are important to your business?
MR: For me, I have three: Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Facebook and Instagram we post very frequently on and we have many followers, lots of reviews.
Pinterest is really important for our store because when the men who come in for bridal really don’t have an idea, we’ll ask them, “Does your girlfriend have a Pinterest account?” And, voila, she does and she’s pinned 40 different styles and they all look the same so we know what she likes!
So Pinterest is a huge tool for us. We actually run advertisements saying: Check her Pinterest account, and bring in pictures.
Rogers & Co. Fine Jewelry and Design has created a custom business rooted in Montana by using local, unheated sapphires in much of their work. NJ: Do you have e-commerce?
MR: I don’t. My parents’ jewelry store had e-commerce for many years and, quite honestly, we didn’t make many sales from it and it was kind of a hassle. So when I opened up with my husband three years ago we decided to design a website that tried to present really great pictures, a lot of inspiration--because we do so much custom work--and something that would really drive people to call us on the phone or come into our store.
NJ: What’s the best piece of advice you’d offer to other independent jewelry stores?
MR: I would say always smile and genuinely be interested in your customer and their life, really listen to them and treat them the way you would want to be treated.
Today it’s all about relationships and when you build a relationship with a customer, they will help you build your business, so I think that’s the most important thing.
NJ: What’s a fun fact about you we can share with our readers?
MR: For a small family-owned business we’re a very active family. We have a 4 year old and a 2 year old who come to work with us quite frequently.
We have a horse ranch so my husband does a lot of rodeos. So we are rodeo-ing on the weekends and the girls are riding horses--we’ve got some future barrel racers. We do a lot of watersports. We’re really outdoorsy. It’s like your typical Montana family.
But then we get all dressed up on Monday, and we sell jewelry.
Ashley Davisis the senior editor, fashion at National Jeweler, covering all things related to design, style and trends.
