I’ve been home from The JCK Show a week now, and the immensity of it all is still sinking in. It’s amazing that we’re “on” for nine consecutive days—from 8 am to 1 am—with maybe a half hour of personal time a day. Whew!
In this hyperdigital world of PDAs, e-mail, and YouTube, it’s fantastic what happens when almost 30,000 like-minded people get together in the same building for a week. The flow of communication, ideas, brainstorms, celebrations, business deals, and just plain fun is astonishing. We’re all lucky to be in such a vital, connected industry.
The list of clients I visited, and events and parties I attended, is simply too long to review. But suffice to say it was great to see you all, and the warm, positive feedback we got on our publications and Web site is the true reward for our hard work. Thanks.
A highlight of the week was the photo shoot for our next four “JCK Reader” retailers. Joining us were Aida Alvarez, of Birks & Mayors; Ed Bridge, of Ben Bridge; the Joneses, of Sissy’s Log Cabin; and the Udells, of London Jewelers. We’re honored to have these respected retailers join our campaign, and as you can see from the photos on the left, we had a blast pulling it together.
Many congratulations to Dave Bonaparte, Yancy Weinrich, Nancy Walsh, and their amazing team at our sister company, JCK Events, on a fantastic show. We proudly share the JCK brand name with this team, and we respect and admire their work. Can you imagine coordinating 3,500 exhibitors and more than 20,000 buyers? Wow.
On a sad note, we were all crushed to learn of Marion Halfacre’s passing just a few days after the show. Marion was one of the first retailers I got to know in the business, and it was always a pleasure to see him at JCK Show advisory board meetings, in the halls of shows, and on my visit to Traditional Jewelers in Newport Beach, Calif. The industry will miss him dearly, and our thoughts are with his family and his team at the store.
Here’s hoping summer brings a bit of relaxation for us all. See you at JA in late July!