The Jewelry Exchange Acquires the Sirocco Diamond

TUSTIN, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 03/15/2006 -- The Jewelry Exchange announced that their executive diamond buyer has successfully acquired the famous Sirocco Diamond. This spectacular 16-carat stone was named for the hot winds that blow over North Africa. Legend has it that the original owner of the diamond was en route to meet a potential buyer, when the vehicle he was riding in overturned due to a sudden gust of wind. The beautiful diamond was said to be lost in the sands of the Sahara for many years, until it was mysteriously discovered in the private collection of a reclusive Asian gem collector. The diamond then went through many hands until it came into possession of the Jewelry Exchange during the buyer's recent trip to the Middle East.

The details of the stone are as exceptional as it heritage. Slightly over 16 carats, the round-cut stone is brilliant in reflectance and exceptionally clear. The Sirocco Diamond is now in the Jewelry Exchange's private collection and is not on view to the public or for sale. However, the company has said that they will entertain offers over $142,000 from well-qualified individuals and investors.

The Jewelry Exchange is the nation's leading independent importer of diamonds, and has over 30,000 loose gems in stock, including many in sizes and shapes that are difficult to find elsewhere.

Travel for Diamonds

The Jewelry Exchange is owned by Goldenwest Diamond Corporation, and has been operating for over 25 years, with locations in Los Angeles/Tustin, Chicago/Villa Park, San Francisco/Redwood City, Boston/Sudbury, Dallas, Tampa, Seattle/Renton, and Denver/Greenwood Village. The company operates as The Jewelry Factory in Philadelphia/Norristown, Washington D.C./Bethesda, New York/Hackensack, Detroit/Livonia, and Cleveland/North Randall. And in Houston, the company operates The Jewelry Source.

For more information, or for directions to a store near you, call 1-800-441-0715 or go online at www.jewelryexchange.com.

Jewelry Exchange :

Bill Doddridge has built the Jewelry Exchange into a $130 million business by doing "the simplest, most logical thing."

"Tucked away on a Tustin cul-de-sac overlooking the 55 Freeway is the mother store and corporate headquarters of a fast-growing national retail chain, a major player you’ve probably heard about ­ and yet, if all goes well, you may visit the store only once in your life."...

The Jewelry Exchange
Tustin jewelry firm sparkles coast to coast.

by Stan Brin found at ocmetro.com

Tucked away on a Tustin cul-de-sac overlooking the 55 Freeway is the mother store and corporate headquarters of a fast-growing national retail chain, a major player you’ve probably heard about ­ and yet, if all goes well, you may visit the store only once in your life.

It’s the Jewelry Exchange, the place to go, from New York to San Francisco, if you want a quality engagement ring at a substantial discount ­ and want to watch it being made right before your eyes.

The Jewelry Exchange store is actually a cool place to visit, even for guys who would rather poke out their own eyes than look at jewelry: The factory surrounds the showroom, separated from customers by only glass.

You can watch, up close, as dozens of skilled craftsmen sort thousands of diamonds, colored gemstones and pearls, cut wax molds, cast molten gold into rings and assemble the finished product. It’s like watching a living museum, while all about the store, couples select diamonds and settings from a vast assortment of sizes and styles. If they want something more exotic, there are plenty of emeralds, rubies and sapphires to choose from, and everything is handmade on the premises.

Which is a long way from the store’s modest beginning.

The Jewelry Exchange, or Goldenwest Diamond Corporation, is more than just a store ­ it’s the largest, “first generation” privately held jewelry company in the United States. Trade publication National Jeweler estimates the company’s 2003 sales at $130 million, with 15 stores and a growing presence on the internet.

Guitars, tools ­ and jewels

Oddly, the Jewelry Exchange didn’t start out as a jewelry store.

“After high school, I went to work in my stepfather’s pawn shop,” says Jewelry Exchange founder Bill Doddridge, 49, of Tustin. “I saved money, and in 1977, I bought my own pawn shop ­ Buena Park Loan & Jewelry.”

Doddridge found that it was harder to obtain merchandise than to sell it. “You never know what people are going to pawn. To get your volume up, you find other sources of supply. I had to go out and buy guitars and tools, things people expect to find in a pawn shop. But I found that the most profitable items were jewelry ­ and that I could make it for less than I paid for used items.”

In ’86, Doddridge installed a goldsmiths’ area and phased out the pawn shop. He stressed a lean, high-volume operation to provide high quality at low prices.

He regularly travels to the diamond bourse in the Israeli town of Ramat Gan, where he buys stones from sightholders, dealers licensed to purchase directly from the Central Selling Organization in London, the guys who control the sale of South Africa’s diamond production and set the world’s diamond prices.

This direct connection to sightholders placed the Jewelry Exchange only one layer down the supply chain from the Central Selling Organization, allowing Doddridge to pass big savings on to customers while maintaining quality.

“We prefer to show stones loose, before they’re set,” Doddridge says, “Customers should choose diamonds the way a professional does ­ from all sides and angles.”

Salespeople are instructed to inspect each diamond through a loupe ­ the jeweler’s two-inch-long magnifier ­ before showing it to a customer. Customers are then asked to look through the loupe to judge for themselves. They are told what to look for, and everything is pointed out, even the flaws.

The stress on quality and value paid off: “I discovered that so many customers received appraisals of up to four times what they paid that I decided to guarantee that my jewelry will appraise for twice the price.”

Business at the Jewelry Exchange was brisk, but expansion was risky, and Doddridge faced a marketing dilemma: Where to open another store?

One store per market

Doddridge noted that his customers already came from throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties, attracted by discounts advertised on TV spots. This was especially true for his bread and butter business: one-carat engagement rings. Stones and settings for engagement and wedding rings represents 55% of the company’s volume.

He concluded that people are willing to travel much further for a high-priced, but once-in-a-lifetime purchase than for a hamburger, a suit, or even a car. The result was a unique business doctrine: He could keep overhead to a bare minimum by opening only one store per DMA (designated market area).

“When people ask me when we are going to open a Los Angeles store, I tell them that we already have one,” Doddridge says. “It just happens to be located in Tustin.”

In 1991, Doddridge opened his first branch operations in San Diego and San Francisco. Both stores followed the same business model ­ quality, low price and custom, on-site manufacturing.

The largest diamond chain, Zales, plans to open 25 new stores in the New York region alone, but Doddridge is happy with the one large store that he already has. He would much rather open a store in Tokyo. “There are 30 million people in the New York DMA ­ why should I open two stores in one area so that they can compete with one another?”

Today, Doddridge has 15 brick-and-mortar stores and an internet shop, “with online sales up 500% over the past year.”

“It all seems awfully simple to me,” Doddridge says. “I do the simplest, most logical thing ­ I follow the course of highest profitability and efficiency in the product line. Whatever is most profitable and easier to accomplish.”

The formula seems to be working: Doddridge expects overall sales growth of 22% this year, which is enough for a family-oriented guy who likes to go home to his wife and kids when the business day is over. “I never work past 6 p.m. closing time,” he says. OCM


Stan Brin is a longtime Orange County journalist.

gia standards: the four c’s of diamonds

The Gemological Institute of America, headquartered in Carlsbad, between Orange County and San Diego, is the world’s foremost authority in the study and grading of gemstones. The organization has created a list of standards for grading diamonds ­ the Four C’s ­ that are now universally followed in the gem industry:

Carat The measure of a stone’s weight. Larger stones are rarer than smaller ones and are priced accordingly. Engagement rings frequently weigh one carat.

Clarity Stones range from I (included), SI (slightly included), VSI (very slightly included) to F (flawless), with sub-grades, such as SI-1. Most quality engagement rings are SI-1 or SI-2. Colored gemstones such as emeralds or rubies can have more flaws than diamonds.

Color The D-Z Color Grading Scale. The brightest diamonds are D, but H is acceptable. Grades I through Z are incrementally more yellow and less desirable.

Cut Not the style of the stone, but the quality of its proportions, symmetry and finish, and the amount of light that it reflects.

A one carat diamond that is finely cut and rates SI-1 for clarity and G for color will be worth a lot more than another stone that is rated I for both clarity and color.

For more information, visit the GIA website at www.gia.edu and click on “How to Buy a Diamond” and “learn the Four C’s” of diamond value. OCM

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