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In an period the place most purchasing occurs with the clicking of a button, and retail has change into more and more impersonal, Polacheck’s Jewelers stands aside. The Calabasas luxurious retailer is greater than a retailer—it is a weekend vacation spot. Rich prospects browse manufacturers similar to Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Cartier whereas having fun with meals and refreshments and chatting with an knowledgeable employees.
“I’ve turned all my purchasers into pals,” says proprietor Brent Polacheck. “It is essential for me to know who’s spending cash with me as a result of we’re gonna spend hopefully 10, 20, 30 years collectively.”
The enterprise started 101 years in the past when Ben Tipp opened a small diamond retailer in Seattle. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1949, it turned one in every of America’s premier luxurious retailers. Polacheck is the fourth technology to run his household enterprise.
With a bridal case displaying ten-carat diamonds and watches that may price upwards of $2 million, Polacheck’s is not for everybody. However it understands the worth of what issues most: constructing multi-generational relationships and offering a memorable expertise. His strategy gives worthwhile classes for entrepreneurs in any trade.
In a current look on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast, Polacheck shared insights on constructing an enduring luxurious retail enterprise within the age of Amazon.
Create an expertise value returning to
Whereas many luxurious retail chains really feel equivalent and impersonal, Polacheck’s has change into a neighborhood hub. Saturdays rework the shop right into a social vacation spot, full with drinks and sushi.
“For those who’re gonna go spend your cash someplace, would not or not it’s in an amazing surroundings?” Polacheck asks.
The secret’s making service private and memorable – from guaranteeing employees are specialists of their subject to creating an environment the place prospects and their households really feel genuinely welcome, not simply tolerated.
Construct lasting relationships, not transactions
For Polacheck, enterprise means taking lunch with purchasers, internet hosting watch collectors’ dinners, and even organizing journeys to Geneva for auctions together with his most devoted prospects. When a shopper calls a few reward, his staff will textual content pictures and deal with reward wrapping, saving them a visit to the shop. This private strategy extends past single purchases – he actively vets potential prospects, specializing in these inside a 15-20 mile radius who can change into a part of the shop’s neighborhood somewhat than one-time consumers from out of state. The lesson? In luxurious retail, constructing deep connections with the precise prospects issues greater than maximizing particular person gross sales.
Keep alert to altering markets
Success in luxurious retail requires staying vigilant and seizing alternatives earlier than opponents can act. When Polacheck discovered one other supplier was contemplating opening within the Topanga space, he moved shortly to safe the situation himself. Now he is constructing a 3,500-square-foot Rolex boutique there, one in every of solely about 20 in the US. On the identical time, he is renovating his flagship retailer and planning a brand new Patek Philippe location.
Select your prospects correctly
With hundreds of orders and restricted stock, Polacheck fastidiously vets who will get every watch.
“Promoting a unit simply to promote a unit is unnecessary these days,” he says.
His staff focuses on prospects inside a 15-20 mile radius who will change into long-term purchasers, somewhat than out-of-area consumers who may flip watches for fast earnings. The strategy means turning away some straightforward gross sales, notably from resellers. However discovering the precise buyer, not the right-now buyer, is value its weight in gold.
In the present day, Polacheck’s is increasing with new places, together with a standalone Rolex boutique opening quickly in Topanga. As Polacheck prepares his personal kids to ultimately take over the enterprise – together with his daughter who’s gaining expertise at one other jewellery retailer in Vermont – he is seeing his prospects’ kids changing into the following technology of purchasers.
“A whole lot of my prospects are having their children are available in—which means we’re doing one thing proper.”
