Mayors Jewelers going upscale
Mayors Jewelers, a South Florida fixture for more than a century, is getting a reboot with new and revamped stores that have more luxury watch lines and higher-end jewelry.
New watch lines include luxury Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen and Tudor, a Swiss watch that touts celebrity ambassadors Lady Gaga and David Beckham. The retailer also has launched a “Mayors High Jewelry line” that features necklaces, earrings and bracelets, some with yellow diamonds.
Prices are in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.
The new merchandise is just one of the changes for Fort Lauderdale-based Mayors, after the company was acquired last year by the London parent of Watches of Switzerland. Mayors’ existing stores — 15 in Florida and two in Georgia — will get a fresh look. Nearly half of those stores are in South Florida.
The company also has plans to open at least one new store in Coral Gables in the next few months.
While Mayors’ parent company is based in London, the U.S. headquarters will remain operating out of Fort Lauderdale, according to Brian Duffy, CEO of Mayors’ owner, Aurum Holdings. The South Florida headquarters employs about 50 people.
“What we’re doing in Mayors is exactly what we’ve done in the United Kingdom in the last five years. We have a blueprint [for the U.S. operation],” he said.
As a result of upgraded merchandise and design, sales have increased 12 percent in the U.K. over the past four years, Duffy said.
Despite being acquired, Mayors will keep its name, the CEO said. The parent company has opened Watches of Switzerland flagship stores in New York and Las Vegas. But the Florida and Georgia stores remain under the Mayors name.
A new Mayors store will open in Shops at Merrick Park in Coral Gables, with construction scheduled to begin in January and the store expected to open in April. There may be other new stores planned for the tricounty region as well, he said.
The new Coral Gables store is designed to be contemporary and exclusive, but “not intimidating,” Duffy said.
Most Mayors stores will remain in shopping malls, while some may change locations within a mall, Duffy said. Mayors has South Florida locations in Town Center at Boca Raton, The Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens, The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale, and the Aventura and Dadeland malls in Miami.
“We like the malls, but we have to be in the best location in the mall for visibility — a space for the [high-end] brands that we sell,” he said.
Peter Webster, founder and president of Roberto Coin jewelry in New York, whose Italian-inspired jewelry is featured in Boca Raton and other Florida stores,
said Mayors’ strength over the years has been its customer service. “They do great training,” he said.
But he said one issue for his company is that Mayors has been known primarily as a watch retailer.
“For past five years, they focused on watches and forgot jewelry. Now they’re giving jewelry much more visibility,” Webster said.
Still, Duffy said watches such as Rolexes continue to be in demand. Even millennials, who may use their mobile phones for the time, are interested in wearing a high-end watch because they represent “success.”
Edward Dikes, co-owner with his wife, Tracey, of competitor Weston Jewelers, said he has seen demand for top-of-the-line watches grow among the younger generation.
“Rolexes are hotter than ever right now,” he said. “Millennials that are starting to make money are buying that product now. Once they’re successful, they just love the product, and they know the intrinsic value of the watch.”
In jewelry, customers are interested in name brands and large diamonds, he said.
Mayors first opened its doors in 1910. In the last decade, the jewelry store chain has weathered several ownership changes. In 2017, the chain was purchased by Aurum Group USA from Canada-based Birk & Sons Holdings in a deal valued at $108 million, according to a company news release.