Welch Jewelers planning for short move to bigger home

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Mar 21, 2008 by Reinhardt, Eric

NORTH SYRACUSE - When Welch & Co. Jewelers opened its doors at 406 S. Main St. in North Syracuse nearly 11 years ago, owner Daniel Welch believed the store would be large enough for the time he'd be in business there.

Well, times have changed.

"In 1997, we thought this would be plenty big for the rest of the time we needed it. But that's turning out not to be so. But that's a good thing. That means that we've grown and things have progressed, and that's what every business wants to hear," says Welch.

Welch & Co. will be moving to a new location at 513 S. Main St. in North Syracuse, across from Goldberg's Furniture, at the end of April. The 1,250-square-foot structure - currently boarded up - is about one half-mile south of the jewelry store's current 1,200-square-foot location. It used to be the home of Dryclean USA, which closed in June 2006.

Welch says he'd been looking for a new place for the past three years, hoping to own a building instead of leasing space inside one. He leases space from Northern Properties at his current location.

Welch says customers will have a lot more room for parking at his new location.

"People drive by because we're very visible from Route 11. They see that the parking lot's full and they just keep going because they know they can't get in. This has its own parking lot with plenty of room to expand that."

The building could also be expanded by as much as double its square footage, Welch explains. He also wanted to have his own floor plan for setting up work areas and equipment more efficiently.

Welch bought the 513 S. Main St. building for $69,000 at an Onondaga County auction in May 2007.

"There were several other people bidding on the property, and I went a little bit higher than I had intended to, but I had also gained more information the day of the auction that made it so that I would go a little bit more," said Welch.

He had learned that the Department of Environmental Conservation had cleared the property of any environmental issues.

After taking possession of the property that same month, he removed a lot of the old equipment and did extensive demolition to the interior.

Butterfield Construction will handle the improvement work at the new location. Welch says it'll cost about $153,000. He was able to secure a matching funds grant of $21,000 from Onondaga County's Commercial Rehabilitation Program for work on the structure's exterior. Welch is also refinancing the original mortgage on the property and a portion of the remaining $132,000 in expenses for improving the site. Any remaining costs will be handled out of pocket.

He says the structure was built in the 1880s. The contractor plans to leave some of the original wood exposed to give it some character and show its age.

Welch has been in the jewelry business since 1980. His first nine years were spent as a store manager for Kay Jewelers. From there, he worked for Ra-Lin Discount, running the jewelry department and buying the jewelry for four years. After leaving Ra-Lin, Welch went into business for himself doing jewelry-repair work for stores in the Syracuse area He then created Welch & Co. with two partners in 1997. Welch is the president of the operation.

Welch says each year has been better than the last since opening his jewelry business. Initially, the, bulk of the store's work was doing repair work for other stares to build up the finances before focusing on the retail side. He stopped doing all outside work in 2007. His customers are mostly consumers.

"We only do our own work now and that keeps us busy. The trust from the community has grown to the point where we take in the work directly and do the work ourselves."

Welch & Co. says it sells "fine quality" finished jewelry including diamond jewelry, colored gemstone jewelry, karat gold fashion jewelry, and wedding bands. The store also does a lot of custom design, especially in engagement rings.

Welch has five employees, and he says there is a good chance he'll be hiring additional people sometime after the move is completed. Welch says his company's revenue increased by a double-digit percent-age over the previous year, but wouldn't provide an exact number. He says if the business sees similar growth in 2008, it will have been a good year.

The current location will close on April 21, and the new store will be ready to go on May 5. Welch says it'll take two weeks to make the transition, and his contractor has given him every assurance it can happen in that time frame. A nail salon will be taking its place at his current location.

"It's kind of a do or die because my lease is up here at the end of April and they've already leased the location. So one way or another, we're going."