House of Taylor shutting down

California-based jewelry company House of Taylor Inc. is closing up shop, a filing on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows.

Acknowledging that it is more than $11 million in debt to New Stream Secured Capital LP and "does not have sufficient working capital to continue its business," House of Taylor granted possession of its collateral to New Stream, the SEC filing shows.

"[House of Taylor] hereby surrenders, delivers and grants to lender peaceful possession of the collateral wherever located, and the products and proceeds thereof," the 8K filing states.

The SEC filing goes on to state that House of Taylor "knowingly waives any rights...to notice and a hearing before any court of competent jurisdiction and consents to lender's possession, sale, transfer, license or other disposition of or realization on the collateral."

The end of House of Taylor does not come as a surprise following a week in which it lost the licenses to both its branded lines—Dame Elizabeth Taylor- and Kathy Ireland-branded jewelry—lost its chief executive officer because it couldn't pay his salary and lost its name, literally.

In a filing with the SEC on Tuesday, the company that brings actress Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry line to market, Interplanet Productions Ltd., terminated its licensing agreement with House of Taylor, meaning the company lost both the right to sell Taylor-branded jewelry and the Taylor name.

Ireland's company, Sandbox Jewelry LLC, filed a similar termination notice the same day.

Both companies cited House of Taylor's financial problems as the reason for the termination.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Jewelry business loses lustre for Gatineau company

More than 80 years after it was founded by his grandfather, M. Evenchick Jewellery will close next month in the face of what Brian Evenchick calls unfair competition from offshore.

In its heyday, M. Evenchick Jewellery Inc. employed more than 500 people, displayed the costume jewelry it manufactured in more than 300 stores and grossed $10 million in retail sales annually.

Earlier this month, the Gatineau-based, family-owned company, which has been in business since 1922, announced it will close its doors on June 18.

"We are an old company that the world has passed by," said Mark Evenchick, part of the third generation of owners of the business.

The owners said they decided to close shop because of a steady decline in business. They currently employ 19 people.

In a news release, the company lamented its inability "to compete against foreign markets where labour standards are far below Canadian standards."

For Mark Evenchick and his brothers Brian and Lawrence, the closing will bring to an end a family tradition.

Four out of five of the current generation of brothers in the Evenchick family have worked for the business at some point.

The company was started by their grandfather, Meyer Evenchick, a wealthy Russian landowner who, according to his sons, feared for his life after the Bolshevik Revolution and fled to New York City around 1919.

Approximately three years later, Meyer moved to Canada to manufacture jewelry. After the Second World War, his son, Abbey, took over.

Under Meyer, Evenchick was the first jeweller in Canada to import pearls from Japan. Under Abbey, it became the primary supplier of costume jewelry to major Canadian department stores such as as Eaton's, The Bay and Birks.

But "globalization has changed everything," said Brian. By the mid-1990s, many of the department stores had gone under, and the ones that remained began buying jewelry from developing economies in Asia.

"Everything is going offshore," he added. "Its a fact of life and I can't do anything about it."

Jewelry manufacturing is labour intensive. Costume jewelry is made mostly by hand, with non-precious metals such as brass, copper and pewter alloy metals.

"We follow labour regulations and provide insurance and pension for our workers; we can't compete with offshore companies who pay so much less for their labour," said Mark Evenchick.

The Evenchick brothers, who took control in 1982, did try to adapt to survive. They worked to expand their production base, taking over competitor Nemo Inc. in 2000 and entering the specific niche of "Canadian-made" brand manufacturing to win contracts to produce lapels, pins, badges and metals for the Department of National Defence.

But Evenchick found itself steadily losing out on bids to lower-priced competitors.

Mark Evenchick questions how well the government enforces its requirements for varying levels of Canadian content for goods and services -- for military medals, for example, 80 per cent of the "combined price" of production must be of Canadian origin.

"The government used to do inspections to ensure that the Canadian content policy was being met," he added. "But not anymore."

However, a spokeswoman for Public Works and Government Services Canada said the requirements are enforced.

"We monitor the bidder's certification to ensure the contractor's compliance with the Canadian content policy" said France Langlois, who added that "there are a number of measures that the government can take (to make sure requirements are met)."

Judy Roberts, owner of Davidson Jewellers in Ottawa and former president of the Canadian Jewellers Association, says more protection of such industries would benefit Canada as a whole.

"The government is actually losing out.

"These domestic industries die and the government loses the federal and provincial income taxes that they would gain from having a strong domestic economy in this sector," she said.

For the Evenchicks, however, the decision has been made.
Source: canada

Friedman’s Appeals for Store Closings

After an auction whose results it was “not satisfied” with, Friedman’s Jewelers has now informed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court it wants to close most of its stores.

Friedman’s, currently operating in Chapter 11, is also in negotiations to sell 78 of its stores to WFC Acquisition Corp.

An attorney involved in the case said that WFC was an affiliate of Whitehall Jewelers.

Court papers say that, after it was “not satisfied” with the results of a March 6 auction, Friedman’s entered negotiations with the high bidder.

However, those negotiations did not produce a “satisfactory” agreement, and the negotiations were terminated March 25, with the exception of the current talks with WFC.

The papers continue that Friedman’s is determined that the “best way to maximize the value of their remaining assets … is to close their stores over the next several months.”

Friedman’s request will be ruled on in a court hearing April 4.

The attorney expected the motion to be approved, but noted “it’s always possible someone might come in at the last minute and said he’d like to bid.”

When it filed for Chapter 11, Friedman’s operated 388 stores in 19 states, and employed 2,890 people. Its subsidiary Crescent operates 85 stores in three states, and has more than 600 employees.
Source: jckonline

Jewelry World to close doors

Just in time for the holidays, the savings are huge at Jewelry World. The sad part is, the days are numbered for this home-owned store.

Ronnie West and his partner founded Quality Jewelers in 1980 and changed the name to Jewelry World in 1996.

The small store that thrived on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard was displaced when Old Trenton Road was extended across Wilma Rudolph into East Old Trenton Road.

Jewelry World then moved to its current location on East Old Trenton, but before long, it fell into the shadows of other developments, the owners said.

Jewelry World has always been a place where patrons could expect experienced service and were treated as friends, not just customers, West said.

Ironically, that factors into the reason it's closing.

"It's just time to close," West said. "I'm getting tired. I've been in this business for 30 years, and it's just not like it used to be. Back in the early years, you didn't have every Tom, Dick and Harry in town selling jewelry. Now you do.

"Part of it is that we do give jewelry service, too, and at one time, I was handling the service work for jewelry bought at other stores throughout Clarksville.

"But I do appreciate the business of all of our loyal customers," he said.

West said his final day will probably be around Jan. 6.

Jewelry World has specialized in all types of jewelry, along with the jewelry repair.

Tammy James, who has been with the company for several years, started out as a saleswoman before becoming a certified jewelry repair technician.

West has been a master jewelry technician for decades.

"Closing our doors will be a sad occasion, since I've spent so much of my life here and learned so much about the jewelry business," James said in a news release.

The going-out-of-business sale under way at Jewelry World continues until all inventory is liquidated.

Most of the merchandise, including diamonds, precious gems, rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches, has been marked down by as much as 70 percent.
Source: theleafchronicle

Kahala Mall jewelry store will close

Reflections of the Heart, a fine-jewelry store in Kahala Mall, plans to close Sept. 29 and make way for a new concept store.

Donald Olson, owner of the specialty shop, says he wants to move on to creating a concept retail store that would set it apart from the competition.

The competition locally in the small but profitable business of designer-wear and stone jewelry has increased exponentially in the past few years, Olson said.

Large national chains such as Tiffany's and Harry Winston have opened stores in Hawaii to tap into the pockets of Japanese tourists and well-heeled locals.

Independent operators like Olson say they feel the pinch.

"We are going in a new direction," he said. "We need to make a shift and offer Hawaii high-end, unique pieces, the kind you see on Desperate Housewives and other TV shows."

Olson wouldn't disclose more details about the new business except to say he is looking at possibly two locations. One would be continuing his lease at Kahala Mall and another involves a prominent space, still under negotiations.

Reflections of the Heart opened at Kahala Mall almost five years ago. The 1,200-square-foot store sells handcrafted glass pieces, knickknacks and jewels.

The store employs eight people, who are expected to move on to the new business. Its going-out-of-business sale started Wednesday.
Source: bizjournals