John M. Fedida

1 Comment | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Jan 8, 2009

After leaving the military and going to college, I had decided that I love the jewelry industry. I have relatives who were diamond- cutters in Israel and felt that it was in my blood. So I started working with a major firm in Maryland. When I worked for a chain store, I had built up a clientele, and I've always dreamed of opening up my own store. It's a dream that I've always had, being an independent owner.

I love people. I love to talk to the people. At the end of every Christmas, I wake up the next morning and say to myself, "I hope I've made a lot of people happy. I hope a lot of people woke up today and were surprised and happy at the things that they received from our store."

At Tidewater Keepsake Jewelers, what I've always felt is to give the consumer quality. I learned many, many years ago that I don't want to compete with the chain stores. The chain stores get it in bulk, huge bulk, and they're not conscientious of the quality that an independent jeweler is more conscious of. We feel that if a customer's happy with your product, he'll tell 20 people. If a person is unhappy with your product, he'll tell 100 people. So you always feel like you want to give a good product to customers. And I have an 80 to 85 percent return rate of customers.

Every Christmas, every birthday, every anniversary, every Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduation, and Valentine's Day, of course, I get people who come into my store, and one of the favorite questions they ask of me is, "Hey, whaddya got for about $100?" And for many years I thought about that. You know, I have a lot of beautiful merchandise at prices upward of $300,000, but I'm losing these customers that don't want to spend a lot of money.

My concept for Segal & Co. is everything is $100. All the jewelry in there is $100. Not more, not less. I visit manufacturers and companies that are trying to liquidate their product. If somebody made merchandise for a big chain store and the merchandise wasn't picked up, now this manufacturer's got all these orders of merchandise. They don't know what to do with it. They'll sell it to their jewelers that they do business with at reduced margins.

My wife and I sometimes will spend two days looking at merchandise. We're talking hundreds upon thousands of pieces. And then we'll pick what we want. Wedding bands: We carry tungsten carbide and titanium. A lot of your big-name companies will sell the same product for like $400. We have maybe 60 types of wedding bands for $100. We have over 1,000 pieces of jewelry in there.

Just because it's $100 does not mean it's going to be costume jewelry. We don't carry costume jewelry. This is gold: 10- karat, 14- karat, sterling and 18. We have all different alloys. It's beautiful stones. We have gotten this concept down to a point that we know that the customer's going to get a good product.

Not everybody's got a lot of money. Jewelry is a product that many years ago was for the very wealthy. Right now, jewelry is for everybody.

My brother, Sami Alofer, and his wife, Cheni, came here to stay in this area. They are from Israel, and they decided they loved this area. They're hardworking people, and I could trust him to run the (Segal) business.

The one thing I heard from people this Christmas: "This is a godsend. I am so glad I can get a nice piece of jewelry for my wife or girlfriend and I can afford it. Most of the time I walk by a jewelry store, I feel like I can't afford to go in there and I feel embarrassed. This way, I know what to expect."

I thought (Segal) was going to do about, for Christmas, about $30,000 (in sales). We haven't got all the figures yet, but we doubled that. So it was excellent.

I would like to open up more stores. My dream is for it to be in all malls nationally. I'd like to see every person looking for jewelry that doesn't want high-end, I want them to have the feeling that they can get a nice piece of jewelry for a loved one and not feel embarrassed about walking in.

- As told to Pilot writer Carolyn Shapiro

THE fedida FILE

Age 56

Home Virginia Beach

Secret to making customers happy "A warm smile, a 'thank you' and an appreciation for their business. And wonderful jewelry."

History Tidewater Keepsake Jewelers started at Military Circle mall in Norfolk in 1980 and moved to Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach about five years later, finally coming to its current site in September. Segal & Co. opened at the end of October. John M. Fedida

He and his wife, Lesley, own Tidewater Keepsake Jewelers at Wayside Village Shoppes in Virginia Beach and Segal & Co. in Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake

Age: 56

Home: Virginia Beach

Secret to making customers happy: "A warm smile, a 'thank you' and an appreciation for their business. And wonderful jewelry."

History: Tidewater Keepsake Jewelers started at Military Circle mall in Norfolk in 1980 and moved to Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach about five years later, finally coming to its current site in September. Segal & Co. opened at the end of October.

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