It was 1976 when Milly and Carl Gandia opened Greenwich St. Jewelers in downtown New York Metropolis, a block and a half south of the World Commerce Heart. Over almost three many years, they’ve constructed a loyal buyer base who flock to the shop for repairs and customized orders.
Courtesy of Greenwich St. Jewelers
However when the towers collapsed on September eleventh, the untold devastation additionally touched her beloved store. Structural injury sustained pressured Gandias to shut for almost a 12 months, and after they lastly reopened simply two blocks from their unique location, they discovered the world had modified drastically.
“It was actually tough to have a enterprise on this neighborhood [first] a couple of years after 9/11,” Jennifer Gandia, now co-owner of Greenwich St. Jewelers along with her sister Christina Gandia Gambale, tells Entrepreneur. It was very quiet.”
On the time, Gandia was working in advertising and marketing for a cosmetics firm, however left that place in 2003 and used her expertise in her mother and father’ enterprise. Gandia Gambale, then a pupil, watched the ‘camaraderie’ take form and wished to get entangled too. After graduating in Gemology from GIA and dealing at varied firms, she has achieved simply that.
Alongside the best way, each sisters have realized a lot about what it takes to rebuild and persevere within the face of fantastic however totally different challenges that span many years.
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“There was at all times a ‘let’s attempt, let’s examine’ mentality. And I feel that basically allowed us to outlive in these moments.”
In that early post-9/11 interval, in accordance with Gandia, yearly was vital. The principle focus was on “staying afloat”, which included using the help companies out there to companies affected by the assaults. One of many applications offered a coach to assist combine extra know-how into the corporate, which finally impressed them to overtake their stock course of and launch a website in 2006.
Gandia’s advertising and marketing background additionally performed an vital position in rebuilding the enterprise.
“I’ve at all times been searching for methods to let folks know we’re open and what we’re doing,” Gandia explains. “We’re a service firm – we offer jewellery repairs and watch repairs to the group. Folks nonetheless had birthdays, they nonetheless obtained engaged. And folks wished to help native companies.”
Greenwich St. Jewelers joined Metropolis Search, a now-defunct overview platform much like Yelp, to realize additional publicity and jumped into the digital advertising and marketing recreation, which was comparatively low-cost on the time.
“We took it on early on,” says Gandia, “and it paid off.”
Greenwich St. Jewelers as soon as relied on prospects shut at hand – however the brand new advertising and marketing period turned that normal on its head.
“Now we have actually attracted folks from everywhere in the metropolis,” says Gandia, “typically from Brooklyn or Connecticut.
Being in “survival mode” meant attempting every little thing that may work, together with opening the shop on the weekends – one thing the Gandias had by no means achieved earlier than.
“It is a testomony to all of us, and particularly our mother and father – when there have been postponements or once we needed to swap, everybody was very receptive and prepared to attempt,” says Gandia Gambale. “There was at all times a ‘let’s attempt, let’s examine’ mentality. And I feel that basically allowed us to outlive in these moments.”
Associated: Confidence is a willingness to attempt
Photograph credit score: Courtesy of Greenwich St. Jewelers
“For founders and other people going by this scary time, search for issues in your online business which might be recession-proof, if in any respect attainable.”
This willingness to pivot wherever attainable was wanted only a few years later, when the 2008 recession hit.
As soon as once more, Gandia drew on her cosmetics background to navigate the chaos. Accustomed to the “lipstick impact” – the phenomenon that causes folks to proceed flaunting small luxuries like lipstick in occasions of financial downturn – Gandia wished to use this logic to the household enterprise. What is going to folks purchase who’re used to strolling in with out giving it a lot thought? The reply required some flexibility.
“For some time we launched strains of merchandise that we did not usually sell,” says Gandia. “So we introduced what we known as a bridge or trend product, so it was nonetheless gems, however possibly it was gold vermeil or sterling silver.”
Greenwich St. Jewelers additionally expanded its bridal provide as a result of, similar to within the post-9/11 uncertainty, some issues, like folks getting married, are fixed regardless of the circumstances.
In fact, this truth stays related in the present day as inflation and recession fears go away many enterprise house owners questioning what precisely their subsequent steps ought to be.
“For founders and other people going by this scary time, search for recession-proof issues in your online business when you may,” advises Gandia. “Even when it is not one thing that may make you develop very a lot, simply assist you to get by lean occasions and focus your consideration and time on it.”
As well as, Gandia recommends holding strains of communication between your organization and its companions open and productive. “Take time to attach with you [your partners] and see in the event you can anticipate potential issues,” she says. What can we do to work collectively to maintain our two companies afloat?”
See additionally: Why collaboration is crucial for entrepreneurship
Photograph credit score: Courtesy of Greenwich St. Jewelers
“We have been right here earlier than and we will do that once more, so let’s put our heads collectively and see what must occur.”
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic introduced Greenwich St Jewelers with previous and new challenges.
Gandia Gambale recollects the panic that set in: Not solely have been the corporate’s instant prospects unsure, however the nature of the well being disaster introduced further hurdles.
“I feel what instantly helped our thought course of was, ‘Okay, we have been right here earlier than and we will do that once more,'” says Gandia Gambale. “So let’s put our heads collectively and see what has to occur.”
Though Greenwich St. Jewelers had a website, nearly all of Greenwich St. Jewelers’ enterprise was in-store, so a fast transfer to distant transactions was important.
“We began digital appointments in a short time,” says Gandia Gambale. “It so occurred that we have been making ready to launch a brand new website across the identical time. So we pushed that to verify this web site was up and operating inside a month of it closing.”
“I bear in mind one of many first conversations was, ‘Okay, we have to gear everybody up correctly,'” provides Gandia. “We despatched our workers iPads and made positive they’d every little thing they wanted at dwelling. We needed to take holidays and hearth some folks.”
Gandia and Gandia Gambale wanted to translate the in-store expertise that earned them rave critiques into an equally beautiful digital expertise, and fortunately, being well-versed in coping with sudden alternatives, they have been in a position to do exactly that.
The sisters and co-owners of Greenwich St. Jewelers have seen lots over the many years, and like all entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders, they know they have to be ready for no matter comes subsequent. However imagine them – with slightly agility and cautious planning, even the most important enterprise challenges will be overcome.
“An important piece of recommendation I may give to different entrepreneurs is to know your online business from the financial aspect,” says Gandia Gambale. “Perceive the place your spending is, what’s fastened and what’s variable, and plan for 3 situations: the one the place you develop, the one the place you keep fixed, and the one the place you fall beneath.”