By Chaney Ferguson
Editor, The Times of SWLA
In 1955, Keith Bodin's father opened Bodin Jewelers as a watch repair shop.“He just slowly started putting jewelry in showcases. When I came along, I learned how to work on watches, but I didn't like it. It was too tedious,” said Keith Bodin.
Bodin admits his father didn't give him much of a choice in the business. He had to work in the store, but after spending so much time around the jewelry he began to take an interest.
“I started repairing jewelry. I started with simple stuff like cleaning things and I learned how to do buffing on the buffer.”
After growing up in the business, Bodin proved to have a real talent for working on jewelry.
“I went to a school to learn jewelry repair and along the way learned how to work with customers. I got a gemologist degree in 1987 along with my graduate gemologist degree.”
Bodin started his gemologist education in 1978. It took a while since the degree is very involved.
“You learn about diamonds, colored stones, and identification. There are quite a few different things you have to look at and learn before you can get your gemologist degree.”
The first thing a gemologist student learns about is diamonds. Bodin studied the history, where they are mined, and then how to evaluate and grade them.
“You learn identification and how to identify all the colored stones and there are hundreds. You do different tests on them that tell what type of stone it is and then you get the variety. It is separating imitations and synthetics from natural stones.”
When his father retired in 1980, Bodin and his wife, Lena, took over the business.
Bodin's degrees set his business apart from other jewelry stores.
“If you look around, there are really not that many gemologists,” said Bodin.
Lena Bodin describes the difference as being a professional jeweler versus going into sales marketing.
An example can be found in the mall stores. The employees may not know what the stone is because they can only tell you what they have been told to tell the customers.
“Through the years we have seen mistakes made, like synthetic stones being sold as natural stones, not by these local stores, but sometimes customers will come in with something.”
“People will come in from cruise ships or buy stuff overseas and they were told it was one thing and it is not what they thought they purchased. If you don't have the right expertise then you can't tell the difference between what is real and what isn't real,” said Lena Bodin.
Being a gemologist is not the only thing that sets Bodin apart from the competition. He is also a bench-jeweler.
“That means I can work on the jewelry. If you come in with something wrong, I often know what is wrong. I don't have to bring the piece to someone else to fix. We do it here in the store. I don't know of another store in town where you can take a piece in and the owner can work on the jewelry.”
Bodin has a minimum of 25 years experience in every aspect of jewelry work. This Christmas will mark their 30-year anniversary for owning the store.
Over those years, Bodin and his wife have learned what their customers want. They go to market all over the states several times a year seeking out a variety of refined pieces.
“We handpick every piece of jewelry. If we don't make it, we select it. A lot of stores, bigger stores, have buyers that buy for all them. They are watching what their competition is buying and so they kind of copy what they buy. We don't look at anyone else's inventory. We have our own taste and we pick out stuff that we think is pretty and most people like what they see when they come in here,” said Bodin.
When they go to market they look for pieces that will be beautiful for years to come.
Customers have come to rely on Bodin and the style he carries. He sees second and third generations coming in to look for important pieces.
“I had one customer with an anniversary coming up, but we were going out of town. When he asked his wife if she wanted him to go somewhere else the wife told him to wait until we got back in town. She didn't want a piece from somewhere else.”
Value and the happiness of the customer are the two most important things to Bodin Jewelers. They want the customer to be satisfied with a piece that will be beautiful for many years, not a trendy piece that will be out of style after only two years.
When men come in the store looking for a gift, the Bodins go through a series of questions to help them get a feeling about what the woman prefers.
“We ask as delicately as possible, how big are her hands? How big are her arms? Are her fingers long? What are her tastes as far as what is she wearing now? Is it thin bands? Wide bands? Does she like heavy or dainty? What kind of clothing,” said Bodin.
According to Bodin, there are a lot of pieces that will work on everybody. Bodin will also do custom work. If there is a stone that needs to be reset then they will sit down and discuss a design.
“Sometimes people ask ‘what if my wife doesn't like this.’ I say no problem. Bring her in and if I don't have it in a case we will make it or order it. We will get it so she is not stuck with whatever he bought, but 99% of the time they like what they get.”
Bodin says he wants to give his customers enough information so they can make an informed decision on what they are buying. As the holidays approach, keep Bodin Jewelers in mind for your next purchase. You won't be sorry.
Bodin Jewelers is located at 3133 Ernest St. For more information call 494-0999.
