Van Cott Jewelers

Johnson City, NY

STRATEGIC STORE CLOSING EVENT

 

The Levine legacy began when Rubine Levine, Herb Levine’s father and Bill Levine’s grandfather, came to the Triple Cities to begin his own jewelry career. Prompted by opportunity and the will to establish a family business, Rubine’s honesty and fair dealings led his son and grandson to follow in his footsteps.

In 1969, Herb Levine, formerly from Endicott, NY, purchased Van Cott Jewelers from Kenneth Van Cott. In 1975, Herb, former President of the American Gem Society, opened a second Van Cott fine jewelry location in Johnson City, NY. Since 2007, the Johnson City store has been one of the top stores in the region, but of late, the Oakdale Mall location has been decreasing in consumer attraction, which led to the family’s decision to close the store. This would also allow Bill Levine and his wife, Birdie, to focus all their attention on the Vestal, NY, store in the Town Square Mall.

Overall Objectives:

• Close the Johnson City store while maintaining the utmost integrity for the family name and reputation in the region
• Liquidate as much aged and underperforming merchandise at the best possible margins
• Generate significant cash to allow the family to focus entirely on the Vestal, NY, store

“We ran a similar sale promotion event a few years ago with a different company, but we were much happier with The Gordon Company sale. The augmented merchandise was of much better quality, and The Gordon Company in-store consultant was much more hands-on and effective than the other company’s representative.“ – Bill levine

Sales Resultse

• Actual sales were 140% over sales projections
• 86% of the sales were from Van Cott’s owned merchandise
• Gross margins attained were at 44%, or 18% above projections
• Sold 5.6 times more during the sale event than for the same period the year before
• New customers who had never been to the store represented 33% of all purchases during the event

“I was considering running my own store closing sale, but when I saw how hard our sales consultant worked and how knowledgeable he was, with amazing merchandising skills, I now know that I never could have achieved these results on my own. The Gordon Company made my store closing event run very smoothly and professionally, and contributed greatly to the success of the sale.“ -Bill Levine