Walters & Hogsett Jewelers

Sep 17

In their own words

“We want to be Colorado casual, to celebrate the best in jewelry, but not make it something unattainable or not wearable. We wanted to put on jeans, sport coats, and more jewelry. The feeling should be relaxed. There’s open space in the new design, where customers can have a sense of discovery. We have some stand-up cases, a couple of traditional cases, a sitting area with a TV, big comfy chairs, and, of course, a refrigerator in the back with some drinks.”

-Mark Vieregg

Jason’s Interview with Mark

Jason

We're back on Meet the Jewelers and today we're talking to Mark from Walters & Hogsett. Mark, how did you get into this industry?

Mark

It is my family's business. I'm the second-generation jeweler and owner with my partner, Don. My uncle invited me in and my uncle was inspired to go into the industry by my father, one of his two older brothers, who started at Juergens & Anderson in Chicago.

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Jason
What was it like when you got the call that they were going to share the business with you?

Mark
My training out of college was auditor for Arthur Andersen and it was becoming more of a business consulting-type role, and that's what I wanted to do. I knew at that time I wanted to understand running a business. Then I worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car where they give the field the autonomy to run a business. Then my uncle called me and I wasn't ready at the time. I've been around the industry, I've always loved it, and my father had a long career. I said no. After a couple more years of research and understanding, I shadowed the store and watched their remodel in 2001. A few years later, I decided that was what I wanted to do. Run a business, run it in an industry that has been celebrated - that history, that passion. I finally said yes in 2007.

Jason
What did you do that was monumental that you're proud of?

Mark
At that time, it was a shock to the system of what jewelers were doing and how the economy was looking. Jewelry's been around for centuries, we just had to weather the storm for about a year. We were so lucky that my aunt, uncle, and partner Don had been entrenched in the community—we were able to only have a slight dip for about a year and a half, and immediately after that, it was about embracing advertising and our web experience, which took us a few years. With that mission, we said "Okay, we can become more relevant—bring in some brands that are pull brands. And make sure we're marketing to more people and more customers and reach outside of what we had built our business on which was a local business. But let's reach another five or ten or fifteen miles." Then my uncle retired and we were able to commit to continue that. It's the right combination of product and people, obviously our staff. We started adding trunk shows with John Hardy, Kim Collins.

Jason
I see here that one of your goals is to play the guitar. Tell us how that came about?

Mark
I just always admired it and never really dove into music. I've always told people, if I ever get the chance to slow down, it's something I'd like to embrace. I plan to. I've got five kids right now with my lovely wife, so we're pretty busy with four in high school and one middle schooler. Once we're in a good lane with the business and the revenue, maybe I'll get to sit down a few weekends.

Jason
Tell us about the area and why should they trust you with all the different jewelry stores around there?

Mark
There are quite a few and they have some great success. We took a focus when we remodeled two years ago. A year before that, 2016, we sat down and said “What was our brand, and what does it represent in the market?” It came down to two major things. First was trust, and how you generate that trust and keep the trust. And then it was curating the well-made, quality jewelry in the world. We tagged ourselves curators in the art of the well-made. With effort towards that passion for what we sell, who we partner with, and the brands we showcase. We've been around, it'll be our 40th year next year. We're going to celebrate that, we're going to celebrate how we support the community with charity. And continue to reward their trust by bringing the best jewelry designers to them. We will be there for the next twenty, thirty, forty years for their celebrations, their self-purchases, their engagements.

Jason
Tell us about the causes that you guys are a part of.

Mark
My aunt and uncle were very big on saying, "You want to do something that supports the community as best you can." Community-based organizations such as Emergency Family Assistance—we know how fortunate we are when people have downturns in their life economically or emergencies. There's the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, one of the leading humane societies in the country. We've supported them because Colorado is dog crazy. Impact on Education, which is dear to my heart—my wife's a teacher. My aunt and uncle chose that years ago. If you look at Boulder's results, they're one of the highest per capita of the highest educated in the country.

We also have our university, that's a big driver in this community and a big source of pride. We are the official jeweler of CU athletics and we have a lot of fun with them. They did a brand new facility, one of the top five in the country in 2015. Being the official jeweler, we were able to help launch their gala. They invited former players, ESPN stars, and we provided crystal giftware for the take-home item. We did plaques for donation levels. We did acrylic with crystal inserts for recognizing their donation levels and that was quite fun. It's been a nice relationship where I can be their go-to place for certain recognition and Donor of the Game recognition. We did Kiss Cam for a while and we do half-court shot contests. We did a surprise engagement, which actually turned out to be one of the former students and a current cheerleader, and we partnered with Hearts on Fire for that. We're here, part of the community, and will help them get their goals met.

Jason
Tell us about some of the key brands that you guys carry now.

Mark
We've been lucky as a Rolex authorized dealer. That's been dear to our family for over twenty years. Hearts on Fire, when they first came out, we were one of the first retailers that took their diamonds in-house and started selling them. Those two are our biggest ones. We curated a lot of smaller designers in the past five years, we've added Marco Bicego. Moise was amazing and challenged us to take on the account and said he would support it. We've added Roberta Coin. Lika Behar is a great independent artist, and Sethi Couture is two young designers that have taken some of their family heritage from India. Jude Francis, and then John Hardy.

Jason
What's the feeling when you enter your store?

Mark
We want to be Colorado casual. We want to celebrate the best in jewelry, but not make it unattainable or not wearable. The feeling should be very casual, very relaxed. A lot of open space now in the new design. We've got stand-up cases, a couple of traditional, and then a sitting area with a TV and big comfy chairs. We've got a refrigerator in the back with some drinks. You can clearly see our bigger brands to your left and your right, but there's space to move around and relax.

Jason
What's the one thing you'd like us to know about your store?

Mark
There's lots of amazing independent jewelers out there—it's about hospitality. We want you to feel welcome, we want you to come say hi. You'll be a stranger here only once, and we'll work hard to help you celebrate or express your own personal self.