We here in the Land of Gementia have some wonderful new things on the horizon! We've had a great spring and summer, and this fall will be adding two new categories of items to our stores. One of these categories is sort of a sweeping antiquities/relics/amulets/talismans sort of category in which you'll see some very, very, very old (we're talking 300 B.C. sort of old here) jewels, amulets, talismans and other religious or semi-religious jewelry. We'll be starting slowly, but we've gotten some wonderful advice and education from our friend Patrick, a well-established antiquities dealer, and we can't wait to start adding to this line. The other new category is fine art, which we've been collecting for years but is a new line in our G13 inventory. We've had some small successes in our private transactions, and will be, again, starting slowly, but hopefully growing this aspect of the business over the next couple years. One thing we're sure about, owing to our experience in shipping, is that we will only be handling small items. Large items are a terrible hassle to pack and are extremely expensive to ship, so in this new line of inventory, yes, size DOES matter. :D
Our other news is that our custom orders business has been picking up recently and shows signs of growing rapidly over the next year. So far, we have had the most success with our handcrafted large synthetic stone pendants, "Heart of the Ocean" replica necklaces, and emerald pendants and rings. They've been selling as fast as we can list them, so we're trying to keep them listed for the general public while filling custom orders at the same time.
All in all, things are going well. We're starting to list our Christmas inventory (you can never start this too soon, we've found out the hard way). Our stores are growing despite unstable economic conditions, and while we (like everyone else) have our slow periods, we've also had some weeks in which items are flying out the door just as fast as we can pack them. We've acquired several more steady customers (including a couple more famous ones through referrals), and our feedback has been superb. We've been featured on several well-traveled fashion and jewelry websites. We've met most of our end-of-year goals already and are looking forward to an even better year in 2010.
Well, that's all the news for now, but we'll keep you posted.
All the best,
==GEM==
