Sterling Jewelers Inc.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sterling Jewelers Inc. was founded in 1906 by Henry Shaw (the father of Jerry Shaw, the chairman emeritus of Sterling today), from one store in Cleveland, Ohio. Their headquarters in Akron, Ohio was established in 1922. Sterling is a wholly owned subsidiary of Signet Group plc (listed on the London and New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SIG), having been acquired in 1987. Sterling is the largest speciality fine jewelry company in the United States by sales. The company operates chains of fine jewellery stores in the United States, with 1,402 stores in all 50 states as of 29 December 2007. Mark Light is the President and Chief Executive of Sterling Inc. Sterling's main competitor is Zale Corporation, which operates the #2 US specialty retail jewelry chain. According to the company's 3 September 2007 Fact Sheet, Sterling has the #2 position in the US with a 4.3% market share of all jewelry purchases (compared to Wal-Mart at 4.6%, a substantial amount of that being costume jewelry, which Sterling does not sell). Sterling has a leading 8.8% market share in the speciality jeweler market share (highest in the sector), compared to Zale Corporation at 7.4% (#2 position).
Sterling has been one of the largest corporate sponsors of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and holds many fundraisers for the hospital, always donating all profits made from the fundraiser. Since 1999 $10.5 million dollars has been raised, with $2.4 million in 2006 alone. The company also sponsors many other charities and causes, such as the West Side Relay for Life benefitting cancer organizations.
Contents |
Kay Jewelers
Sterling's main brand is Kay Jewelers, which uses "Every Kiss Begins with Kay" in its advertising. Established in 1916 in Reading, Pennsylvania by Sol and Edmund Kaufman when they opened in the corner of their father's furniture store, there are now 861 Kay Jewelers stores as of 4 August 2007, making it the number one jewelry store brand in the United States by sales and number of stores. Kay Jewelers was acquired by Sterling in 1990.
Most Kay stores are in malls, but many new stores are being opened outside malls in power strips and lifestyle centers.
Recently, Sterling has been opening Kay Jewelers Outlet stores. Kay Outlet stores offer a much broader selection of clearance styles.
Jared The Galleria of Jewelery
Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry stores are freestanding (not in malls) and carry about five times the selection of a typical mall jewelers location, including unmounted diamonds and settings. Jared locations have a large custom design and repair department, a children's play area, and an espresso/refreshment lounge. Their TV commercials use "He Went to Jared!" as a tagline. All stores carry branded Swiss watches (such as TAG Heuer, Cartier, Omega, or Rolex) and national jewelry brands (like Scott Kay, Tacori, and Elara). There were 137 Jared stores as of 4 August 2007. Sterling opened the first Jared in 1993.
J.B. Robinson Jewelers and Regional Stores
Sterling also operates many other regional stores, including: J.B. Robinson Jewelers, Marks & Morgan Jewelers, Belden Jewelers, Osterman Jewelers, Shaw's Jewelers, Weisfield Jewelers, LeRoy's Jewelers, Rogers Jewelers, Goodman Jewelers, and Friedlander's Jewelers The regional stores are located in malls, usually when there is already a Kay store in the mall.
When purchased by Signet in 1987, Sterling Inc. consisted of LeRoy's, Goodman (and Hudson-Goodman), and Friedlander's. The sister company Westhall Co., which had split off as Shaw-Rogers in 1937, was also purchased and combined with Sterling, bringing back Shaw's, Rogers, and Belden.
Osterman Jewelers was acquired in 1988 with the purchase of Osterman's Inc. Osterman's was founded in Toledo, Ohio in 1922 and grew to 56 stores in 10 states before the acquisition.
Weisfield Jewelers was acquired in 1989. Weisfield's Inc. was established in Seattle, Washington. At the time of the acquisition, Weisfield's had 87 stores in nine states. Weisfield's Inc. established the Valu-Mart chain of discount stores in the 1950's, but sold the chain in 1976 to Fred Meyer. Weisfield Jewelers founder Leo Weisfield was also one of the founders of Seafair, a summertime festival in Seattle.
Marks & Morgan Jewelers was acquired in 2000. At that time Marks & Morgan Jewelers Inc. had 137 stores and was the ninth largest speciality jeweler in the United States. The company was established in 1909 and formerly headquartered in Augusta, Georgia. The chain was originally known as A.A. Friedman Co. (not to be confused with Friedman's Inc., who now operates as Friedman's and Crescent Jewelers), the name coming from a jewelry store owned by two brothers in the early 1920's in Georgia. The brothers eventually divided the company, but kept the name, agreeing to not compete in each other's markets. While one brother's descendants kept his half of the business, the other's family sold their half in 1990 to what became Friedman's Inc. The company name was changed to Marks & Morgan after the rights to the Friedman name were sold to Friedman's Inc. in 1997. "Marks" came from the Betty Marks, the company's late chairman, and "Morgan" from Susan Morgan, her daughter and chairman until the sale of the company to Sterling in 1999.
J.B. Robinson Jewelers was established in 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio. Its 82 stores were acquired by Sterling in 1990 in the Kay Jewelers Inc. acquisition. In 1959 Larry J.B. Robinson took over his parent's business and built it into the J.B Robinson Jewelers chain of 96 stores. Larry J.B. Robinson sold his company to W.R. Grace & Co. in 1979, who then sold it to Kay in 1987. JB Robinson (also known as JBR) is the largest regional chain. JBR's tagline is "A Heritage of Trust Since 1929", but recently the trademarked tagline "Go Where Love Takes You" has appeared on their catalog covers. There were 114 JB Robinson Jewelers locations on 3 February 2007.
The regionals' (excluding JBR) collective tagline is "Go Straight to the Heart", often used in a radio jingle. Every regional brand has its own specialties, as well as sometimes dramatic differences in jewelry selection depending on the clientele. For example, a number of Osterman locations carry Omega timepieces, while several Friedlander's stores carry Rolex. There were 352 regionally branded stores (including JB Robinson locations) on 4 August 2007.
Previous Nameplates
Previous store brands and nameplates that Sterling Jewelers Inc. used to own or use include "Sterling Jewelers" (original Sterling brand, now only a corporate name), "Hudson-Goodman Jewelers" (original Sterling brand), "Adison Jewelers" (Osterman acquisition), "Orange Blossom Jewelers" (Osterman acquisition), "Ringmaker's" (Ringmaker's and Allen's acquisition), "Allen's Jewelers" (Ringmaker's and Allen's acquisition), "Marcus" fine jewelry counters in department stores (Kay acquisition), and "Black, Starr & Frost" (Kay acquisition).
Exclusive Jewelry Brands
Sterling Jewelers Inc. carries a growing number of exclusive fine jewelry brands, such as the Leo Diamond and Sea Magic by Mikimoto cultured pearls. Jared stores exclusively carry the "ideal ideal-cut" Peerless Diamond and Hearts Desire diamond collections.
