Look Book

22 | The Jewelr y Book THE J ET SET ZADOK JEWELERS VIP EVENT DRAWS ON A GLAMOROUS RETRO TRAVEL THEME by Eileen McClelland Guests arrived by a chauffeured Rolls Royce and were met by greeters in vintage costume. Hannah Chody and Val Newberg arrive at the Jet Set to Zadok event. Amy Zadok, Segev Zadok, Gilad Zadok, Lisa Zadok, Helene Zadok, Dror Zadok, Jonathan Zadok, Michelle Zadok When guests began alighting from chauffeured Rolls Royce vintage automobiles and were met by greeters wearing mod retro flight-attendant uniforms, Amy Zadok felt confident that her themed party idea was setting the perfect tone. e idea for the event, called Jet Set to Zadok, was to simulate a retro first-class flight experience, complete with passports, nuts, fresh-baked cookies and Champagne, to introduce a group of VIPs to Zadok Jewelers' first Austin store last September. e Zadok family opened an 11,500 square foot store at the Domain in Austin last year aer doing business exclusively at a single Houston location for 49 years. e Domain is fast becoming Austin's luxury epicenter. Amy, marketing director and designated party planner of the family, wanted to find a way to communicate all the great things in the store while also ensuring her VIP guests had a fun, memorable experience. Jet Set, on the eve of the grand opening of the store, was limited to 20 invited guests who represented local media and influential members of the community. e grand opening itself accommodated 400 invited guests, who were treated to cocktails, a chocolate bar and music by a local celebrity DJ the following day. e anticipation for Jet Set to Zadok began with hand-delivered invitations tucked into a miniature piece of luggage also containing logo cookies and a simple spa kit resembling something airline passengers might receive when sitting in first class. When guests arrived by Rolls, each was given a passport, designed by Zadok's in-house graphic designer, that they used as a guide to explore all corners of the new store. ere were five experiences in all that included trying on a multi-million-dollar necklace in the vault and posing for a photo that became part of the passport. Next stop was to try on a watch, then explore the bridal area and try on rings. ey also received a hand-painted luggage tag. "When they had completed their travel experience through the store, they got a stamp on their passport and we had gi bags for them," Amy says. e luxe gi pouches were designed in-house by Zadok to simulate a first-class gi bag and filled with perfume from Mikimoto, a piece of jewelry with rondelles and a Polaroid picture to commemorate the event. Zadok Jewelers is owned by Helene and Dror Zadok and their three sons, Jonathan, Segev and Gilad. e preview was designed to begin to spread the word. "A billboard can only do so much," says Jonathan Zadok, Amy's brother-in-law. "Having a well- connected, stylish person telling their friends, `You have to check out that store,' that's what really drives business." Amy and her team plan a wide variety of events, including frequent trunk shows, oen partnering with a charity. "I try to add an element of warmth for every trunk show," she says. Warmth can mean anything from partnering with a pet charity to serving a cup of hot chocolate. "I think there's nothing better with brick-and-mortar retail than having a face-to-face conversation," Amy says, about the importance of events. "No one will get the breadth of who we are without coming in. Our goal is to have retention of customers. We're building customers for life." R E T A I L R A D A R

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