Mackley Jewelers

Jan 8

KNOXVILLE, TN

In their own words

“It’s funny, the image of my store in my mind equates to an old hardware store. Imagine walking into an old hardware store, and you’re looking for a particular nut or widget, and somebody steps up and says, ‘How can I help you?’ No matter how small or big your request, they’re happy to help. That’s my analogy with my store. We do very nice things, we do big things, we do small things, and we try to treat everybody the same.”

-Darryl Mackley

Jason’s Interview with Darryl

Jason

On Meet the Jewelers today, I have Darryl from Mackley Jewelers, second-generation jeweler. Can you start off by sharing a little history about your store and family business?

Darryl

My father and grandfather were the roots of our business. As a hobby, they would collect rocks. They were glorified rockhounds. Visiting my grandparent's house growing up, there were boxes of rocks all over the place that they collected. My father's hobby turned into a profession when he started taking correspondence courses with Gemological Institute of America, GIA, in California. Earned his graduate gemologist degree and began working for another store in town that had many branches at the time. Got his feet wet in the retail industry, made a very good name for himself, and then decided to venture out on his own—and in 1980, started the business we have today, Mackley Jewelers.

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

Darryl
No, absolutely not. I was an economics major at University of Tennessee and joining the family business was actually far from my mind at the time. After graduation and doing a job hunt, my father reached out to me and said, "You know, we're looking for somebody with your qualifications in the family business." And I said, "Oh yeah?" And so reluctantly, I agreed to come on board. I never will forget, I shook my father's hand and looked him in the eye and I said, "Let's give it six months and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, okay?" He said, "Agreed." He was smart, he probably paid me a little too much commission to get started. I was 100% commission when I first started. Made me work, made me appreciate the business, and he started me as kind of an on-the-road salesman, selling estate jewelry and colored stones back to the trade. It was a good way to learn the business, to meet people. You get to see how different stores operate. It was a great way to cut my teeth.

Jason
Can you tell us about a moment where you stepped in and your dad thought you were a hero?

Darryl
I was always good at sales, my dad had extremely big shoes to fill in the gemological industry. He climbed to the top of his industry, was AGA certified in appraisals, and had a big name for himself. I was a little intimidated by his reputation. He urged me to go back to school, to take those correspondent classes with GIA, and I didn't do well at first. He encouraged me to keep trying and attend a lab in Atlanta when GIA had a satellite campus there. It was a very enlightening experience for me. I learned a lot from those people. I also learned that we had a faulty refractometer that I couldn't use. So with a new piece of equipment and a new outlook on my gemological education, I began to excel and I did very well in my courses. I think he was proud when I became a graduate gemologist and finished well in my class. He told me that I was going to be a better gemologist than him one of these days.

He still has a very great reputation today. Although he’s been retired five years, there's not a week that goes by that he doesn't get a call from somebody asking for him. He established a great foundation for me and I went a different route in the industry. My dad's business model was a little different. He liked an office environment with a locked door and a buzzer, and he liked by appointment. He kept the company small that way and manageable. And turned out some great custom works, great appraisals, operated an auction business behind the scenes, worked very hard, put us all through school, and raised a great family in the process. I worked 19-20 years with him in that capacity. When he wanted to retire he said, "What do you want to do?" And I said, "I want a retail store, Dad." And he said, "That's tough. It's a hard way to go." I said, "I know, but I'm a merchant inside. I like to sell, I like people, I think I learned that when I was on the road." And so that's what I decided to do.

I took us from behind the scenes to a storefront. We have regular business hours now. Every day is new and fresh. We help people on a daily basis. That's truly the blessing of this business—being able to help people with your knowledge and your profession. They inherit things, they have appraisal issues, they have insurance needs. The industry is very service-oriented now and to be able to help people is very gratifying for me.

Jason
I want to hear some of your fun projects where you were able to make somebody's day?

Darryl
The custom work has opened the doors for that. We get two types of custom customers: the bridal customer that wants to build that one-of-a-kind, special piece for the girl they love. Then we also get the remount customer that has inherited things that are very nice, but not necessarily their style. Both have an emotional basis. When you're able to transform a customer's dream into that reality, that custom piece, they just awe when you open the package. They look at it, and they swell up and sometimes they tear up, they are just so happy and grateful. That engagement ring starts them on a path in life. They're getting married, they're having kids, they're buying houses. When you've transformed that person's inherited piece into something that they really love, that they want to wear, it brings back the memories of that piece that their aunt, mother, or grandmother wore. The custom work has got to be the most gratifying work in our industry today and CAD, computer-aided design, has brought that into people's lives. You don't have to rely on that sketch on a napkin anymore. You can actually see what that piece is going to look like.

Jason
What are some fun pieces right now that you have in your store?

Darryl
We're very involved in the estate business. The estate business came about from the appraisal side of our business. People would inherit things, they would get things insured or appraised. Sometimes they didn't want them. So we said, "Well, I think we have a market. Can we help you?" So we became an auction firm through the state of Tennessee, we started doing a live auction on Friday night, in the big ballroom of the local hotel. It was fun. This was before eBay. Before I was in the business, I was helping the business on a Friday night with the auctions in my teenage years.

The estate and antique jewelry is certainly a mainstay for us. eBay came and went, high gold prices came and went. I put the auction business aside and embraced the retail side of the estate business. We buy estates, we're looking for those old sweet pieces that everybody's grandparents had. We love old cut diamonds, old mine cut, old European cuts, Art Deco. There's still a strong market for these things and we cater to that. As a gemologist, I love color. You'll see a lot of color in my new jewelry, a lot of custom mountings that we put together. In bridal, you carry a smaller sampling of engagement rings, because of custom requests, but we sell a lot of ideal cut GIA certified diamonds. I take pride in the diamonds that I sell. One of the legacies that I can leave from this earth is that I try my best to sell everybody the prettiest diamond that fits their call.

Jason
When it comes to custom design, do you have designers in-house? How does the process work?

Darryl
I have a famous saying: “I can't read your mind.” A lot of people come in with a picture on their phone, a bridal piece, this is their dream ring. The hardest thing is finding that starting point for people. Some people don't know what their style is, and if you're a new customer, it's hard for me to put my finger on your style. Sometimes it takes conversation. Sometimes it takes looking at a lot of pictures. Sometimes it's just looking at some pieces in the case and starting with one of those as an idea. Once you get a direction, I think it's very easy to take it from there. Usually within two or three changes to a design, we've got a finished piece that we're ready to produce for the customer. The design process could take two weeks, three weeks, sometimes with multiple changes. We've produced in as quick as three weeks, rarely does one take over five or six.

Jason
Do you have designers that you like to work with?

Darryl
We're, in general, a non-branded company. I've shied away from brands over the years. I've always been very quality-minded. It takes a big store to support a big brand. We've always tried to remain fairly small and manageable. We're a small mom and pop. We'd like to do big things well, but we'd like to do them one and two at a time and give that personal attention along the way.

Jason
What else do you want us to know about your store?

Darryl
The image of my store in my mind, I equate to an old hardware store. Old hardware stores are hard to find because the Home Depots of the world have put them out of business. Imagine, you walk into an old hardware store. You're looking for a particular nut or bolt to fix what you've got at home and somebody steps up and says, "How can I help you?" No matter how small or how big your request, they're happy to help. That's my analogy with my store. We do nice things, we do big things, we do small things, but we try and treat everybody the same. We give that individualized service that people can walk away with the good feeling of being helped and appreciated. That's the secret sauce for our business. Without that personable relationship, the customer is not going to come back. They want to feel appreciated. They want to feel like they've been served well and treated fairly. That's the secret to longevity in multiple generational businesses, regardless of the industry.

Jason
My last question, why do people trust buying their jewelry from Mackley?

Darryl
There are a lot of jewelers out there and there's a lot of competition. It's a very hard question to answer, but I'm an honest man and I want to sleep good at night. I want people to talk about me well after I'm gone. This business is solely centered around trust and your reputation, and I want to always try and do my best for every customer if possible. It's impossible to please everybody. I'm not everything to everybody. I don't think any store can be. But we're going to give it every effort to help our customers to the best of our ability in a very honest way. I've turned away business before—it's not my goal to get rich in this business. It's simply a goal to make a good living for my family and to leave a legacy of my name.