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FeedShop Cheap, Look Fab
Two web wonders turn their fashion sense into a sensation.
(page 3 of 3)
Time to Shine
A local jeweler earns a national honor.
Carl Doubét Hendry voices his own radio spots, urging men to profess their love by buying jewelry instead of walking on hot coals.
But the ads are superfluous. Delawareans already know Carl Doubét Jr. Jewelers. It’s been in business for 70 years. When the Greenville shop earned the America’s Best Jeweler Award from National Jeweler magazine in January, that reputation went global.
Hendry accepted the Debbie Brooks-designed award during the National Jeweler Network’s Winter Show in New York. (Brooks designs Michelle Obama’s handbags.) The business earned kudos for customer satisfaction, efficient operations and effective sales strategies.
Industry pros gathered to hear Hendry and other panelists discuss everything from marketing to ethics. “It was a very sparkly crowd,” he says. “And what an amazing honor.”
What an achievement.
“With the jewelry industry facing more challenges than ever, National Jeweler saw the need for a program to serve as a benchmarking tool for today’s progressive retail jeweler,” says publisher Chris Casey. “The jewelers selected will be an inspiration to retailers who are stymied by today’s economic challenges.”
Hendry credits his family: his great grandfather Carl Doubét, who started his business in 1895 in Washington, D.C.; his grandfather, Carl Doubét Jr., who brought it to Wilmington in 1938; his mother, Nola Doubét Hendry, an American Gem Society certified gemologist—an honor just 5 percent of industry pros nationwide have earned; and her husband, Frank T. Hendry, the numbers man.
There is a family member in the store at all times, “and that’s the key to success,” says Hendry. “But what really matters is the trust we’ve built with customers.” —Maria Hess
