Here's a story we just published about Amazon being rated the best company for customer service. Without question. Eons ago, when I was working my way through college in the service industry, management taught us a golden rule: "Kill them...
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As any retailer would tell you, it is difficult anymore to predict the ebbs and flows of the economy. This was as evident as ever on Tuesday, when three of the industry’s largest chains reported sales for the all-important months...
One man has used a jeweler’s digital billboard over a California freeway to propose to his girlfriend. Paul, from Tustin, Calif., used jeweler Robbins Brothers’ “Share the Love” Facebook application to create a marriage proposal for his girlfriend, Krista, on...
During the course of my first year covering the watch industry, I was asked to cover an auction that included multiple lots of “erotic” watches, watches that contain a hidden-yet-naughty scene. After these watches appeared in several subsequent auctions, I...
Imagine Designs made its television debut this month on Kendra when NFL player Hank Baskett stopped into the store to pick out a gift for his reality TV star wife, Kendra Wilkinson. Brian Hakimian of Imagine Designs said while the...
Erica Courtney made an appearance on Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Oct. 3, showing off her glamorous gems to some Housewives and their friend. “Oh I know your jewelry, yes,” Housewife Kyle Richards says to Courtney as they shake...
My colleague and I just had a discussion this week about the tendency of some news websites to use too many clichés in their headlines. Yet I just can’t get around applying the cliché “any publicity is good publicity” when...
Watch brand Sector packed a punch into its 2011 re-entrance into the United States market with an appearance at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at the Lincoln Center in New York City last Thursday. An active lifestyle brand with Italian design influences,...
Diamonds are no stranger to the red carpet, serving as a globally recognized symbol of success and wealth. With a summer full of soirees, premieres and galas, celebrities donned this coveted stone in the latest styles, mostly favoring glamorous drop...
Western boot brand Tony Lama Boots is celebrating 100 years of business this year, and to commemorate the event will be taking on tour a fourth-edition El Ray pair of bedazzled boots--the shoes are covered in 100 diamonds and 14-karat...
A number of creative advertising campaigns have emerged in the jewelry industry lately that share a similar theme: companies eschewing the use of models and orchestrated photo shoots in favor of using their customers to represent their product. Bridal brand...
The March death of screen stunner, fervent AIDS activist and jewelry collector Elizabeth Taylor turned my thoughts to one of the most astonishing stones to pass through this star’s hands--the 69.42-carat, pear-shaped Taylor-Burton diamond. Before I even started working on...
Sleek and sophisticated, celebrities set the stage for style with their red carpet jewelry. Beyonce (below) sparkled in a platinum, diamond and ruby Lorraine Schwartz necklace and matching earrings while she performed during the Macy’s 4th of July fireworks show...
While in Carlsbad, Calif. for Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) Symposium last month, the never-shy Martin Rapaport twice publicly named one specific high-end jeweler for selling what could be high-pressure, high-temperature-treated (HPHT) yellow melee in their stores. As a reporter,...
A number of interesting points came up last Thursday in Las Vegas during a Kimberley Process (KP) panel held at the JCK show. I just wish there had been more people there to hear them. To open the meeting, World...
When I was heading over to London last week to learn more about De Beers’ Forevermark branded diamond program I spent the majority of my time on the plane working on an in-depth story to accompany our upcoming State of...
Always curious to see what those in the spotlight are accessorizing with, I wanted to share the best of celebrity jewelry that’s made its way to my desk over the past week. There doesn’t seem to be much necklace-action, as...
I was out in San Francisco last week for American Gem Society Conclave, my second Conclave in the nearly four years I’ve worked at National Jeweler. Conclave is a lot to take in for one person, so I’ve done the...
In re-capping 2010 with retailers, I had a number of them tell me that business was up during the course of the year, but all with one interesting footnote: Sales were off in the months when they would traditionally see...
It wasn't long ago that Americans were exploited by Europe for our rich natural resources. In the heyday of colonialism, it was standard operating procedure for powerful nations to divvy up the world and its spoils, with little interest in...
This blog entry was written and submitted to National Jeweler 10X by gem author Antoinette Matlins. Are you one of the increasing number who are buying and selling “composite rubies”—unknowingly? If you buy and sell rubies today, this fact sheet...
Last week, I went to see the stage version of “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” the 1980s TV series that was a mainstay at my house on Saturday mornings. For those that missed it, either voluntarily or otherwise, each episode of the...
Several years ago at an industry dinner, Allen Brill commented to me about an obituary I had written about diamond industry legend William Goldberg. "I hope someone writes something that nice about me when I go," Allen joked. Of course...
(Editor's Note: This post was written and supplied to us by Jack Gindi, CEO of FuFoo & Disney Precious Collection. You can find more information at www.fufoo.com or www.preciousjewelrycollections.com.) Bad news: Toxic metals have been found in children's jewelry from...
(Editor's Note: this blog post was written and provided to us by Cindy Edelstein, widely know as the Jewelry Business Guru. Cindy also posted it on her own blog site, http://jewelrybusinessguru.typepad.com/blog/, where she blogs regularly.) Will we ever shop full...














