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The "Sunshine Strategy"

Vince Gulino's Sunrise Jewelers.

Trays of stones say "please touch me."

It's easy to have good times when times are good. The great secret of business life is to have good times when they are bad. And that's the key to the tremendous success jeweler Vince Gulino is enjoying in his Tubac, Arizona, store: giving customers good times during hard ones.

Gulino calls his business plan the "sunshine strategy." Here's how it works.

In essence, Gulino repeals the blues many of his customers may be feeling by imposing a strict prohibition on talk of hard times in his store. "To begin with, jewerly is associated with good times and happiness," he says. "I would be betraying my duty to the public by letting the subject get away from beauty that makes people happy to talk of headlines that make them sad. If nothing else, a jewelry store should be a refuge from any reality that isn't good."

Does this mean that Gulino, who has seen his share of hard times, lives in denial of them? No. He lives in defiance of them. "If the sight of a drusy quartz or Royal Sahara jasper can't take your mind of your troubles or free you from your worries, nothing can. I just assume that every gem in my store is an anti-depressant."

From the looks of his ledgers, Gulino's customers are overdosing on the joyous surroundings and delicious gem diversity he provides. Every month since September 2008 has seen increases of dollar volume that are anywhere from 20 to 50 percent above the same month a year before--and late 2007 and early 2008 were nothing to sneeze at.

Okay, let's get down to jewelry store basics Gulino-style.

A lifetime of gem collecting is crammed into Gulino's cases.

Rule #1: Thou Shalt Provide Diversity

The "Sunshine Strategy" isn't some mealy-mouthed commitment to happy talk. Gulino keeps a standing store inventory of thousands of gems in every price range and in every species. No, his isn't a store where couples go to shop for engagement rings, although he has sold his fair share of them. Located 20 miles south of Tucson, Gulino sees his store as a museum of natural wonders where people realize a superwide gamut of choices for personal adornment that no other jewelry store presents to them.

Even the paintings at Sunrise Jewelers are by Gulino.

That isn't just a commitment on Gulino's part. It's also a challenge. "Tubac is an artists colony with 125 stores--at least ten of them jewelry galleries," Gulino explains. "So standing out from the competition here involves harder work and greater originality than it would in a mall where everyone is competing for the same diamond and watch sales."

From drusies to geodes, Sunrise has every kind of mineral magnificence.

As a metalsmith, Gulino is prepared to customize every jewelry need expressed to him. Gulino continues: "You walk into my store and you immediately know you're in another world. Sheer wonderment takes the customer captive. This puts me at a great advantage over most jewelers because I am as much musuem curator as custom jeweler. I'll have several people in here and they all want me to play tour guide and identify the latest wonder that they're seeing."

Rule #2: Thou Shalt Provide Memories Not Just Merchandise

A Vince Gulino oil painting.

Gulino has only been at his present location for two years. For the preceding 11 years, he was living in his birth state of New Jersey to which he returned from Arizona to take care of his ailing mother. It may be this situation that created the need for Gulino to make his jewelry business a sanctuary from sadness. "I always love quartzes with their endless variety that gave shoppers a chance to own rare beauty for very little money," he says.

Once he was accepted into the Tubac community (merchants must be juried by their peers), Gulino decided his store would be "a place where shopping for jewelry would be as memorable as the jewelry on display. People are shopping as much for memories as merchandise."

Just walking into Gulino's gem-packed and jewelry-crammed gallery makes it into a memorable experience--one that redefines the jewelry buying experience. "People come in, have their minds blown but still want to shop in other stores to make sure that what they're seeing here is really as good as it gets," he resumes. "Most of these people return to me and when they do they tell me they saw the best jewelry and got the best help here. That just adds to the value of the jewelry they buy from me."

Sunrise Jewelers is as much studio as store.

Rule #3: Thou Shalt Treat All Goods As If They're Priceless

Gulino is proud of every gem and every artifact in his store. And why shouldn't be be? He hand-selected every loose gem and hand-crafted most of the jewelry. "Everything in my store has a personal story which I share with the customer," he says. "That story provides a kind of provenance that only personal involvement with one's merchandise can provide. That's why I treat everything in here like it was worth a million dollars. Maybe I should say my stuff is priceless. The point is this: I'm an artist as much as I am a jeweler and that gives personal meaning and excitement to everything I sell."

From the moment you enter Sunrise Jewelers,
the message is, "Make yourself at home."

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