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In This Issue
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Word Spreads About Jewelry When Buxbaum Group formally launched its jewelry division in September 2008, sales were shriveling at major chains like Friedman's, Zales and Whitehall Jewelers, and bankruptcies and store-closings were on the rise throughout the troubled U.S. jewelry sector. At the time, the Jewelers Board of Trade predicted 20% or more of independent jewelry stores would vanish in five years. |
 Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors won praise from noted designer John Atencio for successful repositioning strategy for his regional chain
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It might come as no surprise, then, to learn that 2009 was a stellar year for Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors—after all, the company formed this division with a view toward helping struggling jewelers liquidate their operations. However, that is not exactly how it shook out. "The jewelry division did indeed have tremendous success in 2009," notes Buxbaum Group Executive VP Stevan Buxbaum. "We turned a profit and did eight sales right out of the box. Interestingly, though, just two of those were true going-out-of-business sales. We thought 2009 was going to be all about store-closings, GOBs and retirement sales. Instead, it was about our jewelry division working with clients to turn their retail operations around and save their businesses." Buxbaum Jewelry Advisors is rapidly gaining a reputation as a hands-on turnaround partner adept at helping jewelers adopt smart strategies for coping with the recession, says VP Gary Jorgensen. This is particularly true among higher-end retail operators certified by the American Gem Society. continued on page 4 |
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LIQUID FACTS |
Balanced Strengths in Wholesale, Imagine two wholesale warehouses packed with sports equipment. The boxes of footballs, hockey sticks and soccer balls might look similar, but appearances can be deceiving. "Let's say those respective inventories were owned by two separate businesses, one focused on private-label, generic brands and the other on popular, name-brand sporting goods that carried significant sales constraints such as exclusive licensing agreements with particular retailers," says Buxbaum Group Executive VP Jim Siebersma, who also heads up the firm's Asset Appraisal business unit. "Appearances to the contrary, the liquidation values of those wholesale inventories could be wildly different." Distinctions between wholesale and retail inventories, moreover, can be just as sharp. "Retailers can liquidate merchandise directly to the public," Siebersma says. "For a variety of reasons, however, wholesalers typically cannot. And so both the liquidation and appraisal methodologies will differ greatly depending on whether the debtor is a wholesaler or a retailer." continued on page 2 |
