Famous jeweler is closing up shop

BUYING JEWELERY FROM KMART, MACYS & YES SAM'S CLUB IS LIKE GOING TO A GENERAL PRACTIONER INSTEAD OF A SPECIALIST. i HAVE WORKED FOR THIRTY YEARS FOR A FAMILY CHAIN AND WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS ITS BETTER TO HAVE ONE JEWELER YOU CAN TRUST. EVERY JEWELER WILL MATCH THE PRICE YOU CAN FIND UNLESS ITS SOME OF THE CRAP FROM OVERSEAS THAT YOU WOULDN'T WANT YOUR NAME ASSOCIATED WITH ANYWAY.

I never trust those jewelers there just to cheap looking..

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Thanks,

Jon

Bob, sorry to pop your bubble but you clearly don't have a clue about jewelry. The problem with Whitehall is not the word retail, which means the place selling to the consumer, Sam's club and Costco are selling retail. The challenge with many of the chains is the style in which they offer pricing. The consumer is finally done with phony discounts and medium quality jewelry. The market is shifting again to the low end being available at Walmart and TV, and better quality being bought at independent stores. For your information, the managers of the local Coscto have me make their engagement rings. I can offer better quality and better pricing and it is still considered retail because they are the end user. Whitehall got caught like many other large chains buying the wrong stuff and the wrong price and not selling enough to pay the bills. If you somehow think that gigantic stores like Walmart and Costco will cause the demise of real jewelers who actually make and design quality products, then all chefs will go out of business due to the frozen pizza section.

I hope wal- mart gets into the business,these companies have been sticking it to the public forever

I work for Zales jewelers, therefore we are always up on the competition, Whitehall being one of them since there is one in our mall. Whitehall has actually been bought by another jewelry company, and many of the locations will continue to be a jewelry store, just under a new name. However, it is a shame that it looks like none of the current employees will stay/be brought back after the transition. As to quality, believe it or not, Whitehall OVERALL had better quality merchanside than most of the other chain stores, ourself included until this year. They did/do carry some of what we in the industry like to call 'spit' or 'salt globs' but all chain jewelry stores do in effort to appeal to all budgets. Also, those of you who are comparing stores like J.B Robinson, Kay's, Roger's, Zales, etc. should know that they ALL carry most of the same jewelry from the same vendors. The only differences are price and or customer service. For those of you who have complained over losing stones from Whitehall jewelry, trust me, that happens nomatter where you buy jewelry unless you are buying REALLY high end - as in five, six and seven digits. The reason is the accent stones on just about all fine jewelry now are no longer set by hand - they are dropped in by machine and the prongs 'squished down'. All too often, the stone 'lands' wrong, and that is when you will have stones fall out of a brand new piece. The good news is you should be under warranty and anying faulty should present itself pretty quickly. It is just an unfortunate consequence of everything become automated and mass produced nowadays. To the user who complained that their Whitehall ring turns their finger, this is common. It has nothing to do with the company or the alloy mix - it is the wearer. It even happens to me. It has to do with your acidity (if you drink a lot of orange juice or take vitimin c tablets especially) you will have a lot of acidity in your skin oils. This reacts with the metal and will leave you with a green or black mark (that rubs off easily). And believe it or not, my cheaper 10kt gold does not do this to me - its the BETTER higher content gold (14kt and 18kt) which does. So that tells me that it is the gold reacting with the acid, not one of the alloys. But when I lay off the citrus stuff, it doesn't happen.

Nicole,

You could have an allergy to the alloy that is mixed with the gold. This is common. Have an allergy test and find out for your piece of mind.

Whitewall Inc. does sell, "junk". I have a ring from their store and twice the stones fell out and I had to have them replaced. It cost me more then the junk is worth.

I bought my daughter an untraditional mother's ring at Whitehall and it's VERY lovely and doesn't break out her finger. She's had it for almost 2 years now. You may be I agree with Rina...you may be allergic to something in the gold. :)
It's a shame this jewelry business is closing down. Great jewelry for a great price but most importantly...so many jobs will be lost. Prayers go out to those who will lose their jobs in this economy.

Very well said... It's true- our attitude and perspective will determine how each of us makes it out of this "recession"

I agree with you on this one. I own a salon in florida and I have discovered an amazing compnay that has integrity and heart and is not going anywhere. We have so many things out there available to us but because so many people are closed minded and don't see the big picture they suffer. Unlike the ones that see an oppotunity. What people done realize is that now is the best time to get involved with a great standing company at these hard times because when it gets better and it will these compnaies will be the one standing tall and all their followers will reap the benefits.

Not a huge mark-up? My husband is in the jewelry business, was a manager at a retail jewelry store for years, and there is about a 3x mark-up on jewelry in retail stores! He gets things custom made for people at one third to half the price with better quality and one-of-a-kind craftsmanship! Not a huge mark-up hahahaha