Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah DeShazo.
Hi Deborah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Western New York, along the Canadian border near Niagara Falls, which is a great place for finding interesting rocks, gems and shells, so I collected tons of them and was fascinated by their natural beauty. At 18 years old, I was working in a mall which had a high-end jewelry store by the front door. Every time I went to work, I loved to walk by the windows to peek in at all the polished diamonds and gemstones set in beautiful pieces of jewelry. One day I saw a “now hiring” sign in the window, so I went in to apply for the job, but they didn’t want to hire someone as young and inexperienced as I was. And, even though I tried my best to talk my way in, they told me I had to be at least 20 years old to apply, I knew it was where I wanted to be, so I went back when I was 20. The manager offered to give me a written test to see if I knew anything about the jewelry industry and/or anything about gems and precious metals. Little did he know that my boyfriend, at the time, was taking geology in college, and I had been borrowing some of his text books to read whenever I got the chance. I didn’t even realize how much I’d learned until I aced the test and stunned the manager! They hired me that day, and there I learned many areas of the industry from diamonds and diamond grading, colored gems, metals, Rolex watches, pearl stringing techniques, merchandising, customer service, and even changing watch batteries. This large jewelry store had giftware so I was fortunate to also learn about Waterford Crystal, Fine China and Lladro Figurines. It was magical! Fast forward 21 years when I worked at Shannon Jewelers, where I met, and eventually married, my husband Claude. Claude got his start as a Master Goldsmith when he was 21 years old and living in San Diego, CA. His mother gave him a heavy, gold ring, shaped like a lion, (which is his zodiac sign), for his birthday that year. He was so intrigued by the design and workmanship that he took it to a local jeweler to find out how it was made. There, the jeweler offered him a job, along with an apprenticeship to teach him how to make jewelry. He accepted, and was on his way to becoming a Master of his craft by the time Shannon Jewelers hired him many years later!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Since Claude and I got married and bought Shannon’s, a lot of things in the industry have changed, which is largely due to social media and Google. It used to be that wholesalers would dictate to retailers, and retailers told customers what to buy, how to buy and what the prices were set at. Now, the customer’s have pricing and competitors at their fingertips, along with the ability to lift up, or tear down, a business with a single review. So, now, customers dictate to the retailers what they want, how they want it, and what the fair price should be. Because of that, retailers are now dictating to the wholesalers the same thing,…what we want, how we want it, and what a fair price needs to be, so that we can work with the public and supply what they want. This has made a huge impact on our industry. This whole polar shift has been fascinating to witness first hand, actually. The other large struggle was running a business during a world-wide Pandemic. It was our second full year in business after buying Shannon’s. Claude and I are very grateful to the community for supporting our business through a very difficult time for all. It was also an incredible time to be in business, especially in our industry which depends on diamond mining, rare gems, and jewelry crafting from around the world. The big thing lately has been the 50/50 shift from natural diamonds to lab-grown diamonds. The industry is still trying to catch up with how drastically this has changed our trade. There’s a demand for large diamonds right now. Because of the geopolitical climate and the sanctions on Russian diamonds, natural diamond prices went way up, while the pricing on lab-grown has gone down roughly 90% from where it was during the pandemic. And, even though lab-grown hasn’t held it’s value as first projected, and, because people still want big diamonds for their engagement rings, lab-grown diamonds account for roughly half of all engagement sales, while the other half are sticking with Natural diamonds despite the higher prices. It’s an interesting time to be in this business for sure!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Shannon Jewelers?
At Shannon Jewelers we strive to serve our customers with excellence. From the moment a customer walks thru the door, and all the way thru the buying, creating, and/or repairing process, we do our best to give excellent customer service, which we believe is the most important thing a business can offer. We also try to deliver the best in fine jewelry, from the price-pointed every-day-wear pieces that we carry, on up to the extreme high-end large, luxury pieces. We select each piece by hand, carefully louping the diamonds and checking the design, make and stability before we put them in our showcases. We specialize in custom design. A customer can bring in a picture of a piece and we can make it. They can bring in old jewelry that they no longer wear, and we can make something new out of it. They can bring in a diamond they inherited, and we can set it in a new engagement ring for the next generation! As our tag-line says….”jewelry has a journey, where will you take yours?” We love to size a ring that has been worn by one family member and inherited by another, so that they can wear it for many years to come. We love what we do. We care about our customers, and we care about their jewelry.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
There was so much for all of us to learn during the pandemic that it would be hard to list everything, but the most important lesson we learned was that we’re fortunate enough to live in a great country. Despite all that was going on in the world, people stepped up and shopped small in order to support the struggling businesses in their communities. It was amazing and beyond compare or expectation. It’s the only reason we’re still standing, and we’re so grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: shannonjewelers.com
- Instagram: @shannonjewelers
- Facebook: @shannonjewelersllc
