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Springfield, MO

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Woody Justice, owner of Justice Jewelers, says ice is in the forecast.
Woody Justice, owner of Justice Jewelers, says ice is in the forecast.

A Conversation With ... Woody Justice

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Tell us about Justice Jewelers.

We opened in August of 1984 … first on Sunshine Street, and then in the Brentwood Center across from Battlefield Mall. In 1996 we moved to our current store at Battlefield and (Highway) 65. The one thing we always wanted to do was become a regional jeweler. Springfield is such a regional trade center, especially when it comes to retail, that we literally have people drive from 75 to 100 miles away to come to Springfield to go shopping. That’s one of the reasons we built out on 65 – when people are coming from out of town into Springfield, it’s very convenient for them to use the loop.

We have about 45 employees in Spring-field.

You recently opened a store in Rogers, Ark. How has that been?

So far, so good. We opened in September … (and we’re) going as projected, but it’s always slow when you open up a new store in a new market. You forget that you’ve been here 20 years and you’ve got 20 years of customers – of name recognition in this market. We have five employees in Rogers.

What special events do you have geared toward Christmas shopping?

We do two special events. One is a Ladies’ Day, held Nov. 15 this year. That’s just a day where we have massage therapists, manicurists and makeup ladies here to give the ladies one last day to kick back before Christmas kicks in. While they’re here relaxing and having a good time, we show them around the store and help them get ideas, and we put it on (their) wish lists. Gentlemen’s Night is on Dec. 7. That’s an evening where we bring in good wine, small-batch bourbon, single-malt scotches, hors d’oeuvres, cigars – for one night of the year we allow smoking in the store – we bring in great big air-purifying systems. They come in and sometimes we’ll do $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 in three hours. Guys have a tendency to wake up about the 20th of December, and realize that Christmas is coming again this year, and that it’s going to be on the 25th. It’s a guy thing. What we try to do is make it easy for the guys.

What are some popular jewelry gifts this holiday season?

We’re seeing a lot of ladies shopping early buying watches for their husbands. The other thing I’m seeing is, the Diamond Promotion Service has come out with Journey jewelry. (It’s) a line of diamonds – has to have at least four stones, and they graduate smaller to larger – mainly pendants, some earrings. It’s got a nice story – that life is a journey and she’s been with you a long time, and she continues to stand by you, and things have gotten bigger and better as time’s gone on – hence the graduating stones from smaller to larger.

Any other popular special gifts?

Two or three years ago, a gentleman walked in here and bought a $79 locket. He had a picture that he wanted put into that locket. How many people have a photograph laying around that’s good enough to cut out and put into something that small? One of my information technology guys heard the conversation and said, “That’s no problem. Give it to me, and I’ll just scan it in, put it on the computer and reduce it.” … He scans it in, uses Photoshop to reduce it … and really makes it nice looking, prints it on photo-quality paper, cuts it out and puts it in the guy’s locket. You’d have thought we gave him a million bucks. For the last couple of years, we have sold lockets like crazy. If you have a photo, bring it in. We scan it in, we clean it up, we print it off, cut it out and put it in there … and that’s just included in the price of the locket. … A mother or a grandmother getting a locket, open it up and there’s the kids in there … and you’re a hero for $79 or $200. We’ve got some lockets set with diamonds that are about $1,000.

What about diamonds? Are they a safe bet for Christmas giving?

Christmas is the No. 1 time of the year for giving the gift of an engagement ring. The second is Valentine’s Day – for the guy who screwed up and didn’t give her one for Christmas. We don’t sell a lot of big diamonds at Christmas because people are buying gifts for a lot of different people. We sell a lot of our big diamonds in the off-season … but still, diamonds and diamond jewelry are over 60 percent of our business.

Do you give jewelry as gifts?

It depends on the occasion. I’m divorced, but my kids still like a piece of jewelry every now and then. Sometimes they think, “Ah, Dad just grabbed something out of the case,” so sometimes I like to do something that’s a little bit different so that they know that I went to some effort to find something for them.[[In-content Ad]]

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