Look Book

72 www.thejewelrybook.com s As I sit down to write this article, I am thinking about the specter of two seemingly incompatible data points that I just read. On the one hand, we just surpassed the global high- point for COVID-19 confirmed infections, as the devastating pandemic continues its assault long after most of us might have imaged it would have begun to abate, and yet the Edge Retail Academy just reported that sales for independent retail jewelry stores in the U.S. were up 2.3% in June and 16% in July versus the same period last year. When we (Hearts On Fire and Memoire) closed our business back in March and decided to have our employ- ees work remotely, we never could have imagined that all these months later, we would still find ourselves in the grip of Covid-19. Likewise, had you asked us to predict how retail stores would have fared, had we known then what we know now, even the most optimistic of us would have been hard- pressed to believe that retail jewelry stores would have been out-performing previous years results in June and July. The degree to which many jewelry store owners have managed to fight and scrap, innovate and create against the biggest macro challenge any of them will likely ever face in their careers is nothing short of incredible. Henry Emmons and David Alter wrote in their book, Staying Sharp, "Out of encounters with life's darker experiences can emerge the kind of deeply rooted opti- mism that stubbornly persists despite all manner of challenges." Emmons and Alter might one day look at jewelry stores if they ever decide to write a follow-up to their book. The resilience and grit on display against all the odds is compelling. Long before many of the stores re-opened, they were selling online, they were arranging curbside pick-ups, they were utilizing social media to Live stream. They were emailing, texting, and calling customers to make sure those special occasions (including weddings) that continued to happen in the months since the March shutdown were recognized and catered to, because those special occasions were no less important in April, May, June etc. I had the privilege of seeing the author and business guru, Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence) in 2006 at the AGS Conclave in Orlando, Florida. The theme of Tom's message that day was that the best businesses need a great "Plan B." It was his contention that Plan A rarely works and that what separates the good from the rest is how we react when the best laid plans fall by the wayside. We could never have imagined these dark days, but we must all deal with them and we will be defined by how we react to them. In many respects, we must think like start-ups and, for some, that means scaling down our businesses (people/expenses etc.) to allow us to act like start-ups; nimble, creative, scrappy, flexible. If there is to be a lasting positive to these devastating times, it might be that it serves as the catalyst to finally crush conventional and historical norms. The way we used to do things worked for generations, but now, to para- phrase Tom Peters, it's time for Plan B. What will we look like going forward? Will we be open the same number of hours or will that change? Will we have the same team, or will we take the opportunity to re-think how our people are constituted? Were our social media and e-commerce capabilities up to par, or is there work to be done there? Will we continue to operate in larger spaces, with cases filled with products, or will we think about devoting more space to non-selling, more experiential nooks and crannies? On Retail The Resilience of Independent Retail Jewelers By Peter Smith

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