Left Holding the Bag

It’s off-season on Marco Island; it’s only early June and I can already sense a significant difference in activity from last year. The Marco Mayhem Merry-Go-Round was at top speed and you had to hold on tight only three weeks ago. It seemed at one point to finally come to a full stop, letting the weary and exhausted passengers off and then resume at a slow, graceful trot.

It was so slow one day last week that my dad interrupted his merrymaking in Spain and texted me asking if the door was locked with a closed sign showing. I told him, yes the door is open, only it’s a bit quiet on the island and he could not have chosen a better time to be vacationing off the rock than the present. I’m thinking of some time off soon somewhere in the Caribbean when he returns to Reality Island.

Personally, I think the break in the action is heaven sent - time to catch one’s breath, do some inventory adjustments by filling some holes in the showcase and window displays and work on my new collection. Our famous Marco Bracelets were in huge demand this past season, and my brother Andrew can attest to that statement because he handcrafted each and every one that went out the door. 

Just a quick FYI to the local island crowd. Now is the ideal time to bring in any jewelry repairs, issues, or adjustments while the shop is in low gear. Besides, I have to keep Andrew and Dad busy - you know the old proverb, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” The summer work prevents giving my father the idle time to plan his next spur of the moment trip away to who knows where with who knows who, and that results in leaving me here holding the bag to run things. I like to think I do a bang-up job; I’ve learned a lot standing next to and listening to my father all these years. Sometimes we agree on things and other times we butt heads. I have to admit that sometimes I mimic and even sound just like him, and it makes me crazy. The thing is, he knows his stuff. After 50+ years of experience there is not much he doesn’t know, and nothing gets by him. He wants to retire soon, and I don’t blame him, but not just yet! 

Our last season was more intense than the before; it had me at wits end too!  The past three years season’s we’ve now tagged “A.C.” (After Covid). Those seasons kicked off in late September or early October, not in late January like it was in the past. When I was in high school, the December holiday shopping season on the island was no big deal. Boy, have things really changed! Now it’s our busiest time of the year.

We habitually close the shop for two weeks in September; most of the island’s restaurants did it too because it was always the quietest month. We follow up by attending a jewelry buying expedition to the Miami Jeweler’s International Show (JIS). International and domestic vendors are eager to show us their latest creations. Jewelry manufacturers from all over the world attend this show, including some vendors Dad has known for decades and has had the pleasure of visiting their small workshops and large factories while in Europe. The October JIS show lets us know what will be in demand and what is new and exciting. My favorite time is the après-show destination, namely visiting the Espanola Way in South Beach for a dining and nightlife experience which is always a blast, especially after spending a whole day walking, standing and looking at thousands of pieces of jewelry.

My father should be back in the U.S. and in the shop by the time this hits the presses, so things will return to normal if there is such a thing around here. 

We have discussed new ideas and designs we have on the drawing board that we wish to create and launch for the coming 2023 holiday shopping months and 2024 season. Due to demand, our Naples customers will be very pleased with our latest design piece(s). (We have to keep them a secret for now - first and foremost, they have to be copyrighted© to protect our special designs from copycats).

 Speaking of copyrights, it’s not unusual for people to come in the shop with pictures of jewelry they want us to make because maybe they expect us to make it for less money than the company that actually sells the piece. Other times it’s something they saw online but was of horrible quality. Lots of times, the diamond-encrusted designs are usually from that exclusive store with the pretty turquoise-colored box. In other words, all their designs are not only expensive, they are also copyrighted. We don’t copy other people’s designs - it’s taboo with most professional jewelers. I look at it the same way - I don’t want my designs copied.

Many years ago, my dad got into it hot and heavy when this “Wannabe Jeweler” working out of a hair salon bought many of our specially designed sea life pieces and sent them to a jewelry manufacturer in L.A. and had them copy each and every one of them. Imagine our surprise one day when looking through that company’s catalog there on page 175 were our own Marco Island designs, complete with our store (© HG) logo in plain view. This company, whom we happened to do business with for years, played dumb about the whole “Hello, you outright copied my stuff” thing. It wasn’t that difficult to finger the culprit and we ceased doing any kind of business with her. Just like most fly-by-night jewelers in Southwest Florida, within a year or so, she ceased to exist. Like Jimmy Buffet says, “In the tropics they come and they go.”