At Jared stores, what customers see and discover and how they engage with employees is evolving.
“We’re upgrading to Claudia’s vision,” said Stewart Henderson, director of retail design for Signet Jewelers, referring to Claudia Cividino, the president of Jared Jewelers.
“We are actually doing it from the outside in. We’re touching the whole store in a lot of these remodels, though not necessarily [overhauling] the whole store. But it feels like a new experience.,” said Henderson, who has worked at Signet for almost four years, and earlier worked at L Brands for 16 years, where he focused on Victoria’s Secret, Henri Bendel and Bath & Body Works.
Along with changes in the facade, the fixturing, the color palette and signage, “What we’ve tried to do is create different ways that the customer can engage and explore the store,” Henderson said.
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The diamond room has been upgraded with sophisticated fixturing, lounge areas have been added and in men’s jewelry and watches, bar-type high tops for comfortable viewing are being installed. There’s also an updated, shorter, scripted logo that reads Jared Jewelers, which replaces the rather long in tooth Jared the Galleria nameplate.
“There are lots of different ways to explore the store. It’s a highly immersive experience with multiple brands,” Henderson said.
According to Henderson, the diamond room felt too traditional before. In remodeled stores, it now feels open and updated with better lighting and sophisticated finishes. In addition, “We integrated technology so if there’s a consultation going on there, or customization, the product can be displayed on a screen,” magnifying the jewelry so the quality and the details can be meticulously examined.
The jade and tourmaline colorations newly painted on the exterior, awnings and interiors echo the colors of the jewelry and are repeated in the displays. For the rest of the store environment, “We tried not to create a backdrop that would overpower the product. It’s a more neutral overall environment so the product shines,” Henderson said.
“[Overall] it’s a sophisticated change, and a very obvious one,” Henderson added. Over the last year, about 46 stores have been redone, and about 30 more units are expected to be redone in 2025, he said.
“There have been incremental changes to the stores over the years, but I feel like this time, while we haven’t created a clean slate, it’s made the store feel new again. We’re not necessarily competing against the super luxury brands, though we’re obviously the premiere brand offer within Signet itself,” Henderson said. “It’s a very specific positioning within our market.”
Most Jared units are stand-alone situations with dedicated parking, sometimes shared with neighboring stores. There are a few Jared locations Henderson described as “end caps” since they are connected to the end of a center, but they have an external entrance so customers can avoid entering the center to get into the Jared store.
Asked whether Jared is emphasizing organic store growth or increasing the store count, Henderson replied, “We’re doing a bit of both, but I would say that we’re investing in our key markets [with remodelings] where we know we resonate well with the customer.”
Henderson said a freestanding location is planned for the Buckhead section of Atlanta in spring 2025, where Jared is taking over a former bank and will have its own parking area. Later in the year, a unit in Bellevue, Wash., is planned in a street location at the base of a multistory retail/office complex.
“The stores we’ve done [renovated] this year have [primarily] been in the Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, New York and California markets,” Henderson said. “That’s how we prioritized the investments so far. These are quite productive stores that we’re investing in. We always gear our renovations to the holidays.”
