Another Key West jewelry store bites the dust— but when Colombian Emeralds International (CEI) abruptly closed its Front Street doors on June 7, a number of people expressed surprise.
"I was shocked to hear this, and very concerned about some of my former staff that moved here from the Virgin Islands just to work for CEI," said Jan Palmer, the store manager who opened CEI Key West in December 1997.
"When I left the company last year, I knew one of the three stores in Alaska had closed, but I never anticipated the store in Key West would close."
The Key West store was among the CEI chain of 33 jewelry stores located on more than 15 islands throughout the Caribbean, and in Alaska. Officially, CEI's U.S. office in Fort Lauderdale cites a "decision to focus exclusively in duty-free trading zones", which have been developed over the course of 30 years by the company's sole owner, Steve Crane.
Former CEI employees say the Alaska stores were only open during the summer months, but during that time, they were the top grossing stores in the chain because winter cruise ship passengers in the Caribbean went to cooler climes in the summer.
Diamonds International, which closed one of its two Key West stores in 2000, took over the leases on all three of CEI's Alaska stores. Little Switzerland, which is almost 50 percent owned by Tiffany, is one of CEI's biggest competitors and it is moving into CEI's Key West location at 201 Front Street.
"CEI had a big financial nut to crack each month, and the competition is stiff here," said Barbara Bowers, a marketing consultant who initially developed and directed CEI's grand opening and advertising program.
"When Colombian Emeralds opened in Key West, there were at least a dozen well established jewelry stores, and wherever CEI goes, so goes Diamonds International and Diamond Port." Bowers said six jewelry stores opened within a five-block area of each other in Old Town in 1998.
Since then, two Michael's stores have closed, and Diamonds International closed its Tanzanite International store last year.
A sign of the times? "Perhaps the economy is catching up with luxury items, with tourism, and maybe CEI is reading some fine print in its crystal ball, but I also think CEI's focus on the cruise ship industry affected its Key West store," said Bowers.
"Initially, the CEI store here marketed to the upscale, on-island clientele at Key West's hotels, and to locals throughout the Keys. Sales to cruise ship passengers only made up 20 percent of the store's multi-million dollar annual business.
"When I resigned the account in January 2000, CEI's marketing thrust shifted to the incoming ship business, similarly to the way CEI operates its other Caribbean stores— but cruise ships here run shorter, cheaper trips; not necessarily the stuff of luxury items.
"Colombian Emeralds is an excellent company," she said. "CEI's top brass encouraged its Key West staff to seek jobs with Little Switzerland, and I understand that many of the sales associates have switched over. I suspect only the name and marketing direction have changed."