Greetings from my flight home to New York City from Louisiana! I’ve just ­completed my annual visit to Stuller’s headquarters in Lafayette, to meet with the company’s marketing team and attend a session of their annual Bridge Conference.As always, the conference focused on the massive changes in experiential retailing, social media, custom design, and fashion tastes and how the independent retailer can meet these challenges head-on. I always enjoy sitting in a room full of independent retailers, as they make up our core audience whom we do our best throughout the year to entertain and inform. Attending the conference gives me great appreciation for both their challenges and their love of the business and of jewelry.Prior to the conference, I joined our editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky, our regional sales manager Randi Gewertz, and Stuller’s executive director of marketing Ashle