Introducing Devon Jeweler (Blog)
Get to know Devon Jeweler, owner of a highly successful jewelry store
Devon Jeweler joined the military in 1988 and worked hard to advance the ranks at a fast pace. During that time, he was fortunate enough to travel to over 13 countries and pass through the Panama Canal twice. Devon learned to be very frugal while in the Navy due to living on a ship with limited space for four years. He would also shine boots for the others, charging a small fee and saving the money he earned. And with his shipmates constantly wasting money on drinking and other activities, Devon found himself loaning out money with a hefty interest placed on top of it on a few occasions. Devon opened a mutual fund and would deposit a few hundred dollars off every check into the account every month. After spending 12 years in the navy, Devon decided to leave due to Bill Clinton’s decision to reduce military personnel’s retirement benefits. He also felt that the military was beginning to become too political.
After leaving the Navy, Devon was originally planning to work for a power plant company. But first, he went to help his parents relocate their jewelry store to the Waterman Discount Mall when it first opened on September 29th, 1999. Devon didn’t know a single thing about sales or jewelry when he first started helping his parents with their store. But thankfully he was always a quick thinker and honest with people. While he was preparing to leave for the power plant job, his father told him to try and sell the silver and not to touch the gold. Devon was so good at selling it that it was like selling came naturally to him. Of course, he had to learn all of the different slang terms that were commonly used. But as he started learning it and using the lingo, people seemed to love it. And this is how Devon’s adventure into owning a jewelry store of his own started.
Seeing how good he was at sales, Devon’s parents told him that he should set up a store of his own. At first, he wasn’t sure if opening a store was something he really wanted to do because of the long hours it would require. But in the end, Devon decided that owning his own store would be better than working for someone else and their business. By this point, he had already saved 100K thanks to the mutual savings fund he had opened and was just 33 years old. He was able to use his savings to get things started and obtained a credit line to increase his inventory for the store.
In the beginning, things were very slow for Devon, and he considered it a good day when he made a few hundred dollars. And when he sold $1k worth of merchandise in one day for the first time, he was super excited. Back when Devon was first starting out, the price of gold was around $255 per ounce. Today the price of gold is significantly higher at $1,850 per ounce. Every chance he got, he would go out and buy gold and silver because he understood that the more inventory he had, the more product he had to sell to his customers. For years he didn’t do any partying or go out due to still having a military mindset. Over the years, his business would continue to gain momentum and has now evolved exponentially. Now Devon owns a multi-million dollar business and most people know him as Devon Jeweler.
Over the past 20 years, there’s been a few huge issues that have been a consistent issue for Devon Jeweler. One of the biggest issues he’s had to deal with since opening his store is the obvious issue of theft. There are many dishonest people out there, and Devon accepted that it was just one of the many risks of owning a business. Another constant issue he’s faced with is when people don’t understand buying lower-priced items typically means the quality is not as good as the higher-priced items. For instance, jewelry that’s imported has a higher price point than jewelry that’s manufactured domestically. Also, the more a piece of jewelry shines, the more labor was involved in creating it so it’s more expensive.
As of now, Devon Jeweler only owns one store location but is interested in opening up more locations. He always does holiday sales and posts the sales promotions on his social media profiles when he does sales at his store. Like most business owners, he was hit with the hardships of Covid-19 last year. But he invested time into his eCommerce website and saw enough progress with his website that he was able to stay afloat without receiving any assistance from government offered programs. And it looks like his business will continue to keep growing and evolving with the times.