(New Orleans, Louisiana) Northshore jewelry designer Anne Dale has a new line of rings that feature a fleur de lis in the center and the words “Return to New Orleans, Louisiana” around the rectangular ring face, $69.95 for women’s sterling silver; $299 for 14-karat gold (there also are versions for men). A portion of the proceeds benefit those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The rings are available at Anne Dale Jeweller (12 St. Anne Drive, Mandeville, 985-626-4266; www.annedale.com).
Source - Best of New Orleans
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Aug
29
Jul
18
July 18 2006
Jewelry designer Anne Dale has raised more than $100,000 for Hurricane Katrina victims through sales of her “I Know What it Means … to Love New Orleans” jewelry collection.
Ten percent of sales of the jewelry go toward group directly assisting those affected by the hurricane. The collection includes the “I Know What it Means … to Love New Orleans” badge, the “Return to New Orleans” ring, the “Pray for the Gulf Coast” key ring and the “Signature New Orleans” fleur-de-lis earrings.
Dale lives in St. Tammany Parish five miles from New Orleans. She lost power, phone, running water and more than 20 trees in the hurricane.
Dale is a graduate gemologist of the Gemological Institute of America, a professional gemologist of the Columbia School of Gemology and a fellow of The Gemological Association of Great Britain. In May 1999, she opened her own retail store, Anne-Dale
Mar
2
NEW ORLEANS — It took three days of awards luncheons for the House of Blues to honor all the first responders who helped during Hurricane Katrina.
Actor Dan Aykroyd and Chief Peter Dale of the Harahan Police Department on Thursday helped applaud the various police, fire and emergency management personnel from multiple Louisiana parishes in The Parish Room.
“I was most impressed by the commitment and the unequivocal duty that you, the first responders and your families, gave to your communities. So this is our way of saying thank you,” said Aykroyd, an investor in House of Blues Entertainment Inc. “There is no place like New Orleans in all of America, so there is a great affection in my heart for it, and I was most concerned, as was the rest of the world, during the whole catastrophe and then afterwards. We’re so glad you are all here.”
“Every one of you here today are the ones who saved the city, who got it back,” said Dale. “I realized during and after Katrina that when the chips are really down in this metropolitan area, there are no parish lines, no city lines, everybody just went where they had to go and did what they needed to do. I’m very proud to have served with all of you, much less command some of you, and there are plenty of people alive today because of the people at these three luncheons.”
Commemorative “I Love New Orleans Badge” pins and pendants designed by Dale’s cousin, Anne Dale of Anne-Dale Jeweller in Mandeville, were given to the first responders and their families. Then Aykroyd launched into a rendition of “I Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans.”
“… The place where I left my heart or something like that,” sang Aykroyd, eliciting one of several big laughs from the audience.
Aykroyd and Dale grew to be closer friends post-Katrina, which the former “Saturday Night Live” star mentioned in his trademark deadpan.
“We’ll be seeing ‘Brokeback Mountain’ together after this,” Aykroyd said to laughs.
Dale also recognized Aykroyd’s efforts to lend a hand to the city.
“After the storm, Dan called us and asked us what we needed, and brought us down a tractor trailer full of boats, motors, generators, lights, sleeping bags, dry clothes and food that he bought himself,” said Dale. “We brought him here to give him an award to thank him for his efforts and he turned around and dug into his own pocket again to put these luncheons on. You ever want to know somebody in the movie industry that really loves and cares for first responders, this is him.”
Aykroyd bought needed supplies and drove the entire lot to New Orleans.
“I wanted to make sure it got delivered and in the spirit of what we were doing I wanted to deliver it,” Aykroyd said, noting his friend Gary Kent was with him. “You should have seen me buying pallets of feminine hygiene supplies at Wal-Mart at the request of the National Guard for the guardswomen,” laughed Aykroyd.
Aykroyd has a longtime reverence for first responders.
“Police, firefighters, soldiers, moms — they’re the real heroes,” said Aykroyd. ‘My grandfather was a Mountie in Canada and I saw what a great common-sense cop he was. He was in from 1919 to 1946, and said he never drew his pistol. He said it was all just common sense policing and dealing with human behavior. I admire these people so much. And we just needed to throw a luncheon, have a drink and just party and kind of get back to the spirit of what this city should be, which is about celebration and fun and good times and the future.”
Aykroyd will serve as co-grand marshal of the Krewe of Endymion parade Saturday with actor Jim Belushi, brother of the late John Belushi, his SNL co-star. The parade will roll along the Uptown route instead of the historic Mid-City route — detoured by Hurricane Katrina. Aykroyd will then join Belushi and his band, The Sacred Hearts, on stage at the Endymion Extravaganza as part of a Blues Brothers review.
“Mardi Gras 2006 is going to be a hit,” said Aykroyd. “It’s essential that people come back and know this. The world needs New Orleans because it’s the soul center of the United States. Nowhere in this country is the confluence of the culinary arts, the architecture, the music, the heart, the spirit. It all comes together here. People who weren’t even born here feel like they were once they know the joy of this city and in fact this state.”
House of Blues Entertainment Inc. plans to play a major role in the economic future of New Orleans, said Laura Tennyson, marketing manager for House of Blues New Orleans, which reopened in December. “We are fortunate to be on Decatur Street in the French Quarter and we realized after the storm we really are an economic anchor here, and that we had to open in order for our block to flourish,” says Tennyson. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised that shows have been selling out, the business lunch crowd is back and the Foundation Room members have come back en masse. We’ll continue to demonstrate our long-term commitment to the city.”
Nov
19
Anne Dale’s Katrina Relief Badge goes gold
A Katrina relief badge will shortly become widely available, as jewellery manufacturer Stuller has agreed to put a Lousiana jeweller’s creation into large-scale production.
Jeweller Anne Dale created the badge in response to the devastation she witnessed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and has already sold them on a small-scale.
Now Stuller will be manufacturing the badges in silver and both white and yellow gold from early October, reports JCK magazine.
Ms Dale lives in Mandeville, close to New Orleans, and wanted to design something to support New Orleans and the victims of the hurricane.
Her badge is designed for use as a lapel pin and can also be worn on a chain. It incorporates a crest that represents the Mississippi River and is engraved with “I know what it means” and sports a heart to symbolise love, under which New Orleans is written. Within the heart is a fleur-de-Lis recalling Louisiana’s French heritage.
The Katrina relief badges have already proved popular, with actor Dan Aykroyd placing an order for 500 and Ms Dale has even sent one to President Bush.
Proceeds form the sale of the badges will be channelled into the Stuller Hurricane Relief Fund and relief projects in Ms Dale’s community.
Nov
18
New Orleans Jewelry styles fly off store shelves
(New Orleans, Louisiana) Ten days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, Anne Dale and her family sat in her Covington home with no power, no running water and a battery-operated TV, rigged with a coat hanger as an antenna.
For the first time since the storm hit, Dale saw what the rest of the world had been seeing for 10 days.
“When I saw those images come on TV, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Dale, who owns Anne-Dale Jeweller in Mandeville. “When I saw the police officers speaking, the idea came to me to give recognition to first responders.”
She created a Hurricane Katrina “badge,” a sterling-silver pendant with the slogan, “I know what it means to love New Orleans.”
“Everyone has a Katrina hero,” Dale said. “No matter what walk of life you’re from — rich or poor. A badge represents something about a person, their courage, nobility, honor.”
Dale already has sold 3,000 badges to people in Louisiana and as far away as Australia, Finland and California. A badge costs $29.95 and proceeds benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Dale even tapped into the celebrity market.
“Dan Akroyd bought 500 to give to the New York City police and firefighters who came down to help,” said Dale. “He happened to be in town and the Harahan police chief called me and said, ‘If I give Dan Akroyd my badge, will you give me another one?’ I said yes, of course. And then Dan Akroyd called back and said he wanted to order 500 of them. So I met him in front of a bowling alley in Harahan. He came incognito but he was very nice, serious and businesslike but nice.”
Akroyd took the badges to New York where he gave them to New York police officers and other first responders who helped New Orleans after Katrina.
Harry Connick Jr.’s office requested one, and Marc Broussard, a local composer and singer, also requested badges, Dale said.
Dale is far from the only retailer taking advantage of Louisiana pride.
Earthsavers in Mandeville is selling “Save NOLA” T-shirts complete with a fleur de lis symbol.
The Mignon Faget jewelry store is selling sterling silver and 14-karat gold fleur de lis pendants, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, brooches and rings.
On the South Shore, retailers are selling T-shirts, jewelry and other clothing.
Metro Three, a Magazine Street store specializing in men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, is selling T-shirts with the logos “Make levees not war,” “New Orleans: Still proud to call it home,” “New Orleans is for lovin’ ” and “Go with the contraflow.”
T-shirts and sweatshirts with the “Defend New Orleans” logo also are selling at Turncoats Clothing Exchange on Magazine Street in New Orleans, and Vicki Adjmi, owner of Jean Therapy, is selling “Save NOLA” T-shirts at her Lakeside Shopping Center location.
Nov
1
Louisiana jeweler shows love for Katrina victims
(MANDEVILLE, La.) – A noted motivational speaker and author once observed that “most crisis situations are opportunities to either advance or stay the same.” With her beloved Louisiana homeland brought to its knees by Hurricane Katrina, native daughter Anne Dale showed her true character. Katrina
While it would have been perfectly acceptable and certainly understandable to wallow in her own woes – a house without electricity, water or phone with downed pine trees everywhere and a houseful of people – she “felt compelled to do something rather than nothing… a flop or a hit.” And that “something” turned out to be a hit. In fact, she hit a home run.
Reacting on instinct and as a labor of love, Anne has designed a commemorative jewelry pin, with the proceeds going to benefit the victims of the killer hurricane. Called the Katrina Relief Badge, the classic, sterling silver design, about the size of a nickel, features a theme of “I know what it means to love New Orleans.” “I think God inspired me,” said the New Orleans-born retail jeweler, who owns Anne-Dale Jeweller located in Mandeville, 35 miles north of New Orleans on the Northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain. “The idea just came to me. Sometimes you get a gut feeling. This is a ‘meant-to-be’ project. Within three days, we had 700 hits on our web site. We’ve been overwhelmed.
Anne said besides her divine intervention, another source of inspiration has been the police and their commitment to duty. “I saw their badges and when you think of a badge, you think of courage. A badge tells a lot about a person.
“The first week after Katrina was tremendously stressful. It’s been a hardship to so many people,” she said. “The saddest thing is the middle class, the elderly and the sick. But no matter what income level or status, it’s affected everyone.” To help promote the sale of the badges, Anne’s been on a media circuit that would be the envy of rock stars and politicians. She’s been interviewed by most local news outlets and with all the publicity, she’s managed a 500-pin order from movie and TV star Dan Ackroyd. Louisiana-born musicians Marc Broussard and Charmaine Neville also have badges.
Through Anne’s political involvement, a badge has also made its way to the White House.
The compelling design is topped by a crest, symbolic of the great Mississippi River which has brought Louisianans centuries of joy as well as tragedy. In the center is a heart containing the familiar symbol “fleur-de-lis,” long associated with Louisiana’s rich French culture and strong religious heritage. On the bottom of the badge are the words “New Orleans” with “Katrina 2005 Anne-Dale” on the back.
After producing her own badges for the initial run of 24 pieces, Anne took a giant step toward the big time. She hooked up with Louisiana industry giant Stuller, Inc., who agreed to manufacture and promote the badges.
Stuller’s James Louviere, director of religious and family jewelry, heads the project and said working with Anne and supporting her effort was an easy decision. Within a matter of a few days, Stuller had taken the idea from “art to part,” with the badges scheduled to be shipped the week of Oct. 10. Although the initial pieces were sterling, with Stuller’s help, there will also be a gold version.
“Anne is a very highly-respected gemologist and in that capacity, she has been associated with Stuller for many years. She’s on our faculty when we have our annual workshop,” said James. “When the hurricane crisis came, her part of the world was very much affected. She was born and raised there, and that’s why she was moved to do what she did.
“When Anne called my boss, Harold Dupuy (executive vice president of merchandising and marketing), with the idea, Harold forwarded the call to me and of course I also knew Anne. We quickly put together a plan to take her idea to a larger market.” To order badges, priced at $29 for silver with gold yet to be determined at press time, call (985) 626-4266 or (985) 951-7014 or e-mail info@katrinareliefbadge.com. Proceeds will go to the Stuller Hurricane Relief Fund (c/o the Community Foundation of Acadiana, P. O. Box 3892, Lafayette, La. 70502-3892) and to relief projects in Anne’s community.
Anne is also executive director of Gem-A USA, the American branch of the Gemological Association of Great Britain. Gem-A USA promotes gemological education, teaches gemology at trade shows and schools, and implements courses in colleges, universities, public and private schools.
She is the daughter of famed jazz drummer Paul Ferrara, who performed with the likes of the Dukes of Dixieland, as well as New Orleans legends Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Louie Prima and Harry Connick, Sr. She is married to Michael Dale, and they have three children – sons Stephen (also a drummer) and Paul, ages 15 and 13, and daughter Grace, who is 10.
Stuller, Inc., headquartered in Lafayette, is one of the world’s leading jewelry manufacturers and has been recognized on numerous occasions for its contributions to community and industry. Stuller will be offering badges to dealers through their catalog.
Sep
29
New Orleans Jeweler Anne Dale
A Louisiana jeweler has created a piece of jewelry as a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser that’s quickly gaining national attention, from Hollywood to the White House. It will soon go international, thanks to Stuller, a leading jewelry manufacturer.
Anne Dale, a respected gemologist who directs Gem-A (the U.S. arm of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain) and is the daughter of a well-known New Orleans jazz musician, was shocked by the devastation of “my New Orleans [which] a great force of nature has broken,” and by the “losses suffered by so many.” She was just as “impressed by the heroes who stayed in harm’s way to save so many lives.”
She and her husband, who live in Mandeville, 35 miles north of New Orleans, were hit, too, by the hurricane. It toppled 20 trees around their home, and left them and their neighbors without electricity, water or phone service for weeks. Still, she felt herself “blessed compared to so many others” and wanted to help the recovery, in addition to assisting her neighbors and cooking for them on her barbeque.
So, within days she designed the “Katrina Relief Badge”—wearable as a lapel pin, a pendant or on a chain. Its purpose, Dale says, is “to assist victims of Katrina; to support New Orleans, its people and the surrounding areas as they rebuild; and to remind everyone here, in the coastal region and beyond, that our bloodline flows from New Orleans. It belongs to everyone.”
The design features a crest on top, representing “the mighty Mississippi River as it embraces New Orleans,” says Dale. Beneath it is a heart, “the spirit of love that Louisianans emanate,” with New Orleans written below it. In the heart is a fleur-de-Lis, a symbol of Louisiana’s French culture and religious tradition. On back is inscribed “Katrina 2005 Anne-Dale.”
Dale’s husband cast the first medallions, which quickly gained a following. Dale’s Web site (www.annedale.com) was quickly overloaded by hundreds of “hits” from people wanting to know more or to buy one. Actor Dan Aykroyd ordered 500. Dale, a state Republican committeewoman, sent a badge to President Bush, which the White House accepted and acknowledged. Entertainer and New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. has one. So do the governor of Louisiana, the mayor of New Orleans and visiting Congressmen who came to see the devastation.
Stuller Inc., in Lafaytte, La., one of the world’s largest jewelry makers and suppliers, has agreed to produce, package and promote the badge (in sterling silver, white and yellow gold), says James Louviere, director of religious and family jewelry. The first production run of several thousand was expected to start by early October. After that, “we’ll gauge demand and produce as many as we need to,” he told JCK. But he suggested interest in the jewelry piece might last for a while. “The rebuilding of this region, which this supports, is going to take a long time,” he said.
Stuller will promote the Katrina Relief Badge on its Web site (www.stuller.com) and in its December newsletter, which goes to 40,000 accounts in 40 countries. It will also be featured in Stuller’s next catalog.
Sep
20
Troops find families scattered, homes flooded
By Brian Thevenot
Staff writer
(New Orleans, Louisiana) Minutes before heading out on one of his last combat patrols in western Baghdad, in treacherous rural territory that had claimed the lives of 35 soldiers in Louisiana’s 256th Brigade Combat Team, Lt. William Besselman of New Orleans picked up a scrap of good news about Hurricane Katrina: It looked like the city had dodged a bullet. When he returned from patrol 12 hours later, fatigued but comforted in the hope that his family and his hometown remained unscathed, he and the rest of the brigade confronted
the grim reality. Levee breaks had inundated Chalmette and the 9th Ward with up to 20 feet of water – including his home at Jackson Barracks on the border between Orleans and St. Bernard parishes. The news only got worse; the 17th Street Canal levee breach flooded broad swaths of the city and strained law enforcement agencies lost control of the city.
“I was always worried about me not coming home – never that my family could be in danger,” he said Monday as he toured his battered home inside the confines of Jackson Barracks, where New Orleans Guardsmen are stationed.
One of the first of the returning Louisiana soldiers to visit his home, Besselman relayed the story of angst over Katrina among soldiers already beaten down by a year of intense warfare marked by teary funerals for comrades. In Besselman’s 19-man platoon alone, one soldier had died and eight suffered injuries, almost all from roadside bombs.
Standing in the home, surrounded by moldy furniture under a roof ripped open by wind and water, Besselman remained upbeat, even as he trudged through the stinking wreckage of his bedroom and those of his children. On an ironing board with a rotting cover next to him sat precious documents he had tried to dry out: his marriage certificate, his children’s baptism certificates.
In Baghdad, upon hearing of the catastrophic flooding, Besselman had rushed to a computer to check his e-mail, finding a note from his wife saying that she and their four children had safely vacuated to a Gonzales hotel.
Over the next few days, as soldiers continued their combat missions, they alternated between worry about their families, helplessness in being away at war and, Besselman said, anger and embarrassment at the reports of looting and lawlessness. We wished we were there” to enforce order, he said. “We were embarrassed. They did that in our own city. They didn’t have to do that.” New Orleans Guardsman Brian McDow, in an e-mail from Alexandria where most of the troops are still stationed, said soldiers grew increasingly frantic as they watched news of the storm from abroad. “With each minute that passed, we gathered around the televisions … and we watched Katrina do her work,” he wrote. Word spread like wildfire when the levees broke, and we all wanted to know where and how bad the city was flooding … What came as a horror to us was all the criminal activity during and after the hurricane. We all wanted to go to New Orleans and treat these thugs like insurgents.” McDow and other soldiers of the Louisiana Guard’s 141st Field Artillery Battalion were taken out of Baghdad, via Kuwait, about a week after the storm hit. Besselman, who serves in the 156th battalion out of Lake Charles, left about the same time, on a flight out of Baghdad carrying about 130 soldiers who lived in New Orleans but served in battalions stationed in other areas of Louisiana.
Once back in Alexandria, the Guard released soldiers for four days to track down their families, McDow wrote. For many, that wasn’t enough, and the Guard granted them extensions. Upon returning home from Iraq, hundreds of Louisiana soldiers were unable to find their families for days, said Maj. Pat Simon, and some still have not. “Myself, I had to drive from Alexandria to Lake Charles to Dallas and then back to Alexandria,” McDow wrote. “I know some soldiers had to travel even farther to find their families.”
The future for McDow and his brother, fellow Louisiana Guardsman Mike McDow, remains uncertain. “I am … considering staying on active duty because I have no job or a home to go to,” McDow wrote. “My brother … was able to see his home on Saturday. He said it had 5 feet of water inside.
He will remodel, but doesn’t know if he’ll stay or sell.” As Besselman waited for about a week in Baghdad for a flight back home, a call from his wife, Stacie, desperately seeking help in finding her father, drove home the impact of the disaster. Besselman had a better chance of reaching her father from Iraq than his wife did from Gonzales. Besselman’s father-in-law, Guard Col. Lester Schmidt, had stayed at Jackson Barracks as the military compound was inundated with 10 to 20 feet of water. Once the levees broke, he and his son, Sgt. Lester Schmidt Jr., hopped in a boat and started rescuing people trapped on the roofs in the Lower 9th Ward and Chalmette. “We tried to reach her father for five to seven days,” he said.
Finally, Besselman got through to Louisiana Guard troops at the Superdome, who said they had heard his fatherin-law on the radio, confirming he was safe. Besellman’s dog, Rogue, had stayed behind at the flooded military base after most of its soldiers had been evacuated. “He lived on MREs for a week until the Georgia National Guard brought him some dog food,” Besselman said.
While Besselman struggled to get home, his wife went from Gonzales to Houston to Alexandria, where the couple now plans to stay and build a new life. As he surveyed the wreckage of his home, Besselman downplayed many hardships he might have endured, either at war or in the aftermath of Katrina. “My wife deserves all the credit,” he said. “She moved all the kids around, and put them all in new schools. She’s been the one taking care of the family while I’ve been out playing soldier for three years.”
Information for Louisiana soldiers and their families displaced by Hurricane
Katrina is available at www.la.ngb.army.mil or by calling
(888) 777-7713.
Sep
1
(New Orleans, Louisiana) Gem-A, the new short-and-sweet name for the Gemmological Association & Gem Testing Laboratory of Great Britain, has announced the establishment of a U.S. branch. Anne Dale of Mandeville, La., the first director, will help Gem-A develop its education and Guild programs here. “Gem-A USA will concentrate on actively promoting gemological education,” says Dale. “Tutors are ready, and allied training centers will soon be ready here in the United States.”
Dale notes that Gem-A is moving forward with a new home-study gemology course. The new Gem-A Preliminary course—the first of two gemology courses—has been revised to be easier to use, says Dale. And exams, which in the past were the most feared of any gemological testing, no longer rely on memorizing numerical figures: The basic optical properties are provided during the exams. The courses are accompanied by two newly revised handbooks—Practical Gem Handbook and Gem Observation Guide. The books contain quick gemological references.
In addition to the gemology program, Gem-A’s diamond home-study course is now available to the American market. The course offers a comprehensive education on diamonds and diamond grading. Besides the traditional work-at-home study, the diamond course requires a six-day “practical” (hands-on work). The organization hasn’t established an allied training center in the United States yet, says Dale, adding that Gem-A USA also will need an inventory of diamonds for the practical. Students currently taking the diamond program are encouraged to travel to London for the practical, but Dale says, “We are working on this project.”
Successful completion of the practical, along with eligible membership, allows a student to carry the initials DGA—Diamond Member of the Gem-A. “They can still do the course and get a certificate,” explains Dale, “but to get the DGA initials they have to do the six-day practical.”
Dale studied under the late Antonio Bonanno and then earned her Fellow of the Gem-A (FGA) title in 1986. Her other credits include a Professional Gemologist (P.G.) title from the Columbia School of Gemology, and a Graduate Gemologist (G.G.) title from the Gemological Institute of America.
Dale’s goal is to involve all local trade organizations with the new British programs. No matter how you spell it, with one M or two, gemology all comes down to what you learn, notes Dale. “Gem-A’s belief is that we can have a more unified and supportive relationship with the trade through gemological education.”
Gem-A’s history dates to 1908. The Association offered the world’s first home-study gemology course in 1921, and its gemology diploma is one of the most highly regarded.
For more information, contact Anne Dale at 12 Saint Ann Drive, Mandeville, LA 70471; (985) 626-4266.
Source - JCK - Jewelers Circular Keystone by Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA, Senior Editor
Feb
16
(New Orleans, Louisiana) A few months ago, Anne Dale treated her customers to a night of Belgian-style socializing, complete with waffles, beer and enough wine and cheese to keep them floating through her Mandeville, La., jewelry store until 1:30 in the morning. Then they treated her right back—by purchasing the diamonds she brought back from Antwerp and turning the evening into one of the year’s biggest successes.
“Because I’m a first-generation jeweler, I can do things like that. Nothing is set in stone,” says the GIA graduate and FGA gemologist, who recently uprooted her 10-year-old jewelry business in LaPlace, La., to relocate to swankier digs in Mandeville, an upscale community on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, directly across from New Orleans. “I could never have done anything like that in LaPlace.”
That’s because the move, which involved changing homes, schools and local affiliations, took her from a blue-collar, “river parish” dominated by the petrochemical industry to a well-manicured bedroom community of 12,000, known for having the highest per capita income level in the entire state.
Now, instead of specializing in 50% discounts, Dale proffers $16,000 strands of South Sea cultured pearls in a brand-new, 2,500-square-foot store that, before Christmas, held over a million dollars’ worth of inventory.
“There was nothing wrong with our business, but we had reached our plateau,” says the 37-year-old mother of three who runs the store with her husband, Mike, and five employees. “We knew exactly what people were going to buy. I wasn’t feeling challenged enough. I couldn’t sell a red spinel or a blue garnet in LaPlace. It was a trendy, shotgun market: ‘Give me what’s in and give it to me at the best price.’”
In her new location, which opened on the day before Mother’s Day, Dale finally has a chance to put her five years of experience as the American representative for the Gemmological Association of Great Britian to work. On that note, she renamed the store Anne Dale Jeweller, spelling it with the double L in order to emphasize her European training and using her full name to highlight that the store is owned by a woman.
“I find that a lot of people really appreciate a woman’s touch,” she says, adding that she sprays men’s cologne throughout the store to encourage her female customers to linger as long as possible.
But getting them there in the first place has required a marketing blitz that’s made Dale one of the most familiar faces in town. She joined the Rotary Club, Professional Women, Habitat for Humanity and the Italian Gourmet Society. She’s advertised in the Times-Picayune, movie theaters and local schools, where she gives talks on gems and minerals. When she’s invited to functions, Dale brings along two models dressed in head-to-toe black and draped in her jewels.
The promotions, however, don’t end when people set foot in the store. “I get on my employees like gravy on rice to approach the customers and offer them beverages,” she says. “I have a girl in the store who sings professionally and I can’t tell you how many times she’s sung to customers.”
Dale is also religious about noting her customers’ birthdays and anniversaries. “I have a girl who strictly sends out cards. It’s a lot of work, but that’s what it takes to establish a business.”
Source - National Jeweler