A woman charged with killing a lottery winner wants her jewelry back. Dorice Donegan, also known as “Dee Dee”, wants some items returned to her that were confiscated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department. There are 118 items in total and include a diamond toe ring, a Rolex and a 30-diamond ring.

The police confiscated the goods just days after the body of Abraham Shakespeare was found under four inches of concrete and five feet of dirt in Plant City, FL. They suspect Moore is the killer and appropriately, she has been charged as such. The jewelry is being held to see if anyone will come to claim them as their own. Continue reading »

Two Lemont, IL residents, Steven and Jaclyn Madera, were arrested and each held on $2 million bail. The brother and sister duo are accused of snatch and grab robberies involving the use of a replica gun, wielded by the elder Steven. They were positively identified by the victims after their apprehension and await their next court appearance.

Most of the victims of their crimes were immigrants who had been standing alone on street corners in Chicago. While the robberies took place mainly on the South and Southwest sides of town, the victims varied in age and were specifically targeted based on their jewelry choices. Six victims in total were targeted in the attacks, which occurred on West 56th Street, South Harding Avenue, 38th Place and 41st Street. Continue reading »

Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels will receive a multi- million dollar settlement against Concept Designs Unlimited as they were producing knock-off watches of theses well-known brands. Counterfeiting is big business, so it is good to see a judgment in the favor of the original creators of jewelry designs. The watches were sold under the guise of being real and neither Cartier nor Van Cleef & Arpels authorized the production or sale of the items.

The original complaints were issued in March 2010 to Zura Kazhiloti, who is the owner of Concept Designs Unlimited. He initially denied the charges and decided not to respond in fear of self-incrimination. An amended complaint was then filed in May 2011, which went unanswered leading to this judgment in favor of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. This non-answer to the accusations could be seen as an admission of guilt by many.
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Swatch and Tiffany & Co. have ended their partnership after disagreements concerning the future of the Tiffany watch brand. Swatch alleges that Tiffany & Co. hindered progress and hurt the brand name while possibly damaging future business and is seeking damages. In order for a partnership like this to prosper, both entities need to be on the same page. This is clearly not what happened in this case.

Swatch and Tiffany & Co. had differing views on how the new Tiffany watch brand should be developed and marketed. They felt they were in sole control of the direction of the brand, the development of the product as well as production and were hindered by Tiffany’s involvement. The deal was initially set for 20 years, but not unlike a failed marriage, both sides seem to be pointing fingers. Continue reading »

Tragedy can change your life, both for the good and the bad.  It can refocus your life or send it into a tailspin.  In the wake of the 9/11 tenth anniversary we are seeing how the magnitude of that tragedy is affecting people still to this day.

No matter where you were or who you are, on September 11, 2001 your life was changed forever.  Some people fell into a downward spiral of despair while others decided to gain strength from the experience and alter their outlook on life.  Emotions ranged from sadness to anger.  Continue reading »

The retail sector has been hit hard by the latest recession as well as the slowed down recovery period that we have been in these past couple of years. The recovery has not be quick, but some companies like Movado are proving the fact that we have not quite slipped back into a recession, which is a little bit of good news for everyone.

Growth has been slow, but constant and spending has been up lately as we are seeing some decent numbers from many of the retailers that have been hit in the last two years. One sector that has been struggling is jewelry retail despite the rise in both gold and diamond prices.

Gold is considered a safe investment so many investors have been selling their stocks to buy gold and gold-related stocks to cover their losses. This has driven the price of gold up to historical highs; hopefully it won’t become a bubbled investment like mortgages and burst, creating further problems for many.

Particular jewelry companies have been doing well lately and their sales have been strong not only in the United States, but across the world. Tiffany & Co. have had increases in sales from tourists here in the United States as well as from Asia, where the demand for their goods has increased. Asia has had a influx of new wealth and they have been seeking luxury items to buy.

Movado, the watch company, has had a good year as well. Sales are up quite a bit and now they are out of the red. A year ago, they posted a net loss, but this year, a net gain of 121% has boosted them up and their sales and profits have increased all over the world. The demand is what is driving these increases and they have initiated some marketing plans and have successfully executed other plans that have led to these increases.

They expect things to get even better next year as the recovery starts to take hold here in the United States. Although there is no way to tell when it will start, most expect numbers to start getting better soon and for unemployment numbers to go down next year.

When gold and diamonds are involved, there is bound to be some theft out there as people get more and more desperate without jobs or income of any kind. Those that choose to steal often get caught, so the risk is high and these days, the reward is high as well. We hear about many of the larger crime rings on the nightly news, but small shop owners are also the victims of robbery and theft and their stories often go unnoticed., Unless there is a murder, it is usually relegated to the local paper buried deep with a less popular section. The instances of jewelry theft need to be reported and watched by other small jewelry store owners for trends and tips on how to stop the more popular ways of stealing these criminals have mastered. Robbery scenarios vary and the element of surprise is always a part of it, so you should speak to your employees about certain common scenarios so that they are aware of the protocol you have instituted. It is rare for any jewelry store owner to expect their employees to do anything but comply, so the danger is somewhat minimized. Continue reading »

While many retailers are feeling the pinch that has been brought on by the recent issues with the economy, there are some retailers who are doing rather well even though most Americans are saving rather than spending. These retailers often have stores all over the world and use that as a strategy to mitigate, or spread out, their risk. This is also apparent with certain brands that are not necessarily identified with a particular region or country. Stores with an international client base will often do much better than stores that only have one certain type of client. In the case of Tiffany’s, for example, everyone knows the brand and the jewelry they sell and many people will but their goods when they are on vacation or away from home as well as in their home countries. This results in higher profits all around as evidenced by Tiffany’s latest numbers, which show an overall 25 percent increase in sales for the quarter, something that is both surprising and exciting for retail business owners who were dreading the use of business loans to stay afloat leading up to the Christmas shopping season. Continue reading »

Jewelry retailers are making the changes necessary and evolving to make sure that their products are sold. They end up in the news for various reasons, but it is good to see that they are evolving and that they are doing whatever they can to increase their sales. Now that gold and diamonds are so much more expensive than they were just a few years ago, they must compete for the ever-dwindling amount of money that people spend. The discretionary budgets of most have gone down significantly. They are saving rather than spending and retailers of all kinds are feeling it rather hard. When spending goes down like it has, the amount of profit goes down for most retailers. Their overhead basically stays the same, so they must find new and interesting ways to get customers through their doors, the more people in the store; the more likely it is that they will sell something. Some of the more interesting tactics or stories end up in the news and other jewelers can learn what to do and what not to do to increase sales by reading such stories. Continue reading »

Jewelry stores are always susceptible to crime. Jewelry is valuable and is rather small, so the thief who robs a store can get valuable items that can be easily transported and often sold quickly. That is something that jewelry store owners should be aware of when they send out their jewelry with a courier. Not only do jewelry store owners have to worry about having their store robbed, they also must be worried when their jewelry leaves the store for a simple delivery. There are steps that a jewelry store owner can take to protect the store as well as any courier who is hired for transport. For the store security, they can install cameras that will deter theft to some degree, but criminals will go to great lengths to hide their identity. Silent alarms are also useful, but can be expensive. One option that is not recommended is having a gun in the store as that could be more hassle than protection. If the thief wrestles the gun from you, he could kill you or injure you or your customers. Continue reading »