Harold Jaffe Jewelers

Mar 14

TOLEDO, OH

In their own words

“We have families that make an annual pilgrimage to come and see us at least once a year around the holidays. It’s a very fun business, and we try to make it even more fun. We entertain as well as educate. We don’t take anything too seriously here, but we are very serious about our business.”

-Jeff Jaffe

Jason’s Interview with Jeff

Jason

We're back on Meet the Jewelers and today I'm talking to Jeff Jaffe from Harold Jaffe Jewelers in Toledo, Ohio. Tell us your story, Jeff.

Jeff

My father was a watchmaker for the trade. He was in a watchmaking business with a friend. This was in the late 1930s, early 1940s. After he had gotten out of high school, he went into watch repair. My grandfather was a watch repairman. My father followed in his footsteps doing repair for the trade. As most things evolve, he did as well. He moved around a few places and people started asking him about jewelry—little by little, he got into jewelry. Back in those days, it was electronics, razors, luggage, all kinds of stuff. And, of course, giftware and that again has evolved to what we do today, which is only fine jewelry and fine watches.

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Jason
What inspired you to get into the Industry?

Jeff
I had gone away to school to be a writer. I was in journalism school and I found myself cutting class and working part-time in a jewelry store to support my habit. Little by little, I was cutting more class to be working more time in the jewelry store, and that was up in Madison, Wisconsin, back in the 1960s. I ended up figuring out, “Well, I can do that at home.” So I came back and kind of started working in the family business back here in Toledo.

Jason
Did you always know you wanted to enter the family business?

Jeff
No, I had no intention. In fact, my father, I'm sure he was using reverse psychology on us all along, but he never gave us the inclination that we should want to be. I started working part-time as a kid when I was in junior high or younger, working in the store, cleaning, sweeping, and things like that. And little by little, I started working at the bench and got more proficient at doing repair work. My father, being a watchmaker, we sort of complemented one another because I did stuff he didn't do, he did stuff I didn't do. We worked well together.

They knew that I wanted to be involved. My parents were pleased that I wanted to do it. We had another brother who was three years younger, who had come in and was learning how to be a watchmaker. A number of years later, my brother Ivan, who is partners with us now, he's 11 years younger than me, he became our gemologist. We were very specialized, so nobody stepped on anybody's toes too much.

Jason
Are there some key people who helped you to be doing what you're doing today?

Jeff
We had numerous coaches and mentors along the way. And took every opportunity along the way to attend as many seminars and lectures as we could. We all became gemologists and/or experts. We promote our staff and make sure that everybody is as well educated as they could possibly be. My brother Ivan is a GIA with the AGS. I'm an RJ now and we have a certified gemology lab by GIS here. We've got two certified gemologists on staff and a great crew.

Jason
How did your company instill so much family culture into what you're doing?

Jeff
When you are family, you can exude in a way that you welcome people. Everybody that has worked with us in the past and everybody that works with us from the ground up is truly part of our family. As our clientele grows with us, we're working right now on third and fourth-generation families that we've been with, kids and grandkids of some of our earlier clients. It's very gratifying.

Jason
What right now is standing out to you as you're thinking through trends?

Jeff
We've never been a trendy store. We've always been classic, but contemporary classic. Custom design is what we're really well known for, we've been pretty distinctive. We have an eclectic group of clients. Almost 80% of our bridal business is true custom.

Jason
Tell us some exciting proposal stories that come to mind.

Jeff
I had a cute one that happened just last month. A guy we custom-made a ring for, he didn't know exactly how he was going to present it. We've got a wonderful metro-park system here and it was a pretty weekend. He went out to take his girlfriend and the dog for a walk. He had made a little placard for her around the dog’s neck that said, “Will you marry me?” Someplace along the walk, he snuck it on the dog’s neck. They stopped and turned around, and the dog actually proposed for him.

Jason
What do you think sets you apart from everybody else?

Jeff
Our store is different from everybody else's. It’s remarkably beautiful. It’s a big store with a very friendly vibe, a very warm environment. Our staff is very welcoming and warm. And speaking of dogs, we have our own canine greeters here. Until just recently we had two, now we're down to one. His name is Cooper Harold Jaffe and he’s my best guy right now. People come in now just to see the dog.

Jason
I want to hear some of the key nonprofits and organizations that you're standing behind.

Jeff
You need to support the community. We've been involved for years with many of the arts organizations. My father started the Toledo Jazz Society back in the early 1980s. After his passing, I continued working with them. We were involved with the symphony, we’re involved with the opera, we’re involved with the arts commission. I was on the arts commission board for 12 years. For maybe 24 years, we've been doing an annual Race for the Cure charm for the Komen Race. We create a custom design charm every year. We're always looking for something new and different. We don't really promote merchandise as much as we promote ourselves.

Jason
Why should people trust working with you and your team?

Jeff
It's all about relationships. This is our 74th year and we want many more. You don't have to sell yourself if you're being true.