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Posted December 17, 2010 in News by Phil Foster

A few of my favorite things….

 The last week of Christmas shopping, these are a few of my favorite things……

As Christmas Eve is a week from today, I would like to offer some advice and wit to the shopping season!

We have talked about sparkles and treasures in several formats here on this new blog, because I truly believe that much like the phrase “True Love” being used as magic words throughout the movie The Princess Bride, jewelry gives the best reflection of an important romantic moment or important milestone! It says that I love you right now and when they wear or look at it in the future they are reminded of the event that you purchased it to commemorate. It could be the engagement ring, the wedding ring, a graduation watch, an anniversary ring or any jewelry gift at all! It has the beauty, durability and rarity that says all these things with class, style and repetition.

Now this coming week, I love it when the guys come in shopping without any plan….. and the closer we move towards Christmas the more panic you see in there eyes! They will arrive at Fosters Jewelers in a fit of anxiety and just tell me they want something for $300, or $400 or $100, they don’t care what as long as its close to the budget!

While this makes my job easy it isn’t the most effective approach from either side? They were listening when you said you liked a certain piece or style of jewelry, they really were, but they weren’t paying attention very well. (note to the ladies here, its not good to suggest gifts during the TV broadcast of a sporting event your man is watching intently, I know, if they loved you they would pay attention to the important stuff even then) (NOPE, not going to happen and all in all they (WE) love you very much even then… just don’t talk to us) But now they know that they heard something about jewelry…. Ladies, for best effect cut out a picture before Halloween and place several of them around the house; in the bathroom is the best place, near the razor, or cologne or his contacts for that matter!!! Then when you say something about it later it is 10x more effective. Now I know this sounds contrived and not that special….. But it really helps us out when we want to tell you those 3 special words in a special way. AND you get something close to what you want instead of something that fits the budget. (see above) Deep down we always want you to feel special and spoil the women we love; we could just use a gentle reminder and the direction!

Now guys, here is some simple advice…

for the next week! And a recommendation of a few of my favorite things! Now stay focused here, we are talking about jewelry and specifically diamond jewelry! BIGGER IS BETTER! Now don’t break the bank and spend the kid’s college tuition here, but if you find a pair of diamond earrings that you really like and cant decide between two pair, pick the largest one that is in your budget. Same goes for pendants, bracelets and rings for that matter. Every woman should have a basic set of diamond earrings and pendant to go with her engagement ring! So here is a great place to start!Now I am also a big fan of color! I love bold colors, but I am not a big fan of sticking to the birth month or zodiac stone for choosing what colored stone to buy a loved one! Every one of us guys has a favorite color we love her to wear! Think about it, it could be the one that makes her eyes sparkle or her hair shine. (Focus here man, not the low cut one because its low cut, because of the color) I love the blue of blue topaz and the green of tourmaline and the pink of sapphire to name just a few.

But start with your preferred color or her favorite color if you can’t man up here. This is where we should start with that other set of treasures and gifts. The ring, earrings, pendant and bracelet! One well thought out plan can give you a gift for four occasions and you can stretch them over a period of months or years. But stick with a successful theme here. and make notes when she says “I would like this in a different color too”!

Pearls are another favorite choice of mine and they never really go out of style! And they come in a variety of colors sizes and shapes. They can be freshwater or Akoya but go for the real thing not the simulated type. She will buy the simulated ones herself to accessorize an outfit or for an event.

Now I hope this helps out the shopper and the shoppee! Merry Christmas and see you in the next few days! Sparkle on treasure hunters!

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Posted December 4, 2010 in News by Phil Foster

No Emotion, just the facts……

The Right Jewelry for the Right person at the right time!!

 
My last post was full of emotion and described some of the satisfaction I benefit from in my job, helping others! But not all decisions are made emotionally, so let’s talk about this sale and what makes it SO SPECIAL, and why NOW is the time to act before its too late!
The Right Merchandise

1) We have had many sales since 1984, what is it that makes this sale so very special? Lets look at the figures…. we have a special relationship for this sale with Trade Partners and this relationship is what makes this sale so very special
2) Trade Partners runs these exact promotions very successfully across the country every month of they year for more than 25 years. They are experts!
3) In addition to running these successful promotions and sales they buy up jewelry inventory from retail and wholesale companies that are either over stocked or going out of business for one reason or another. Just recently they ran the bankruptcy liquidation for Friedman’s Jewelers and Whitehall Jewelers. That sale was very successful and at the end, they purchased the remaining excess and unsold inventory at a seriously reduced investment. While bought at a low price it must now be converted to sold merchandise or CASH!
4) Lets further analyze this incredible sale with some facts and figures. Through our partnership, we are adding to the inventory every week, so the merchandise selection is current, stylish and relevant!
The Right time to buy


1) Much of the overstocked and excess merchandise was purchased well below current wholesale prices. The merchandise from 2007-2009 was at a reduced gold price well below $900 an ounce, making it a good value at today’s gold market even before any discounts were negotiated. These facts make this merchandise the right merchandise to buy right now!
2) These facts accumulate quickly to make RIGHT NOW, THIS CHRISTMAS the right time to buy jewelry! I don’t think we will see a collection of merchandise that is more relevant, more current in style or fashion than this collection on display in both locations of Fosters Jewelers right now in December of 2010! However this selection and circumstance will not last forever. So act now if you are in the market for jewelry anytime in the next 6 months!
The Right people to buy from
The right people to buy jewelry from is always Fosters Jewelers! My name is Phil Foster, I am an owner of our company and without sounding over confident or arrogant ,  I want you to know that there are a limited number of people in the jewelry industry, in jewelry manufacturing, in wholesale jewelry sales and retail jewelry sales and jewelry service that know as much about jewelry as I do! Even fewer of them know more than I do about the business of jewelry. I am a graduate gemologist and I have worked in every facet of the business for almost 40 years now! I enjoy my job and have made it my business to stay educated and informed as our business has evolved and changed this last 25 plus years!
The Right people to buy for


In summary, Christmas is the perfect time for gift giving of many kinds. An anniversary forgotten or rushed by in the hectic pace of life, a significant birthday that is coming up or wasn’t the celebration you wanted for him or her because finances and circumstance were different then. And mostly it’s a great time of the year to just say I love you to the special people in your life!

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Posted November 30, 2010 in News by Phil Foster

Does it get any better than this?

I enjoy my profession! I enjoy helping people. And specifically I enjoy help people finding things that help reflect and celebrate significant events in their lives. And engagement ring is the obvious topic of choice, its a symbol of the love and commitment in a relationship, that symbol can be magnified and reduced based on available finances but never by the imagination and symbolism of that relationship! Recently a friend of these past 8 years or so came in at the request of her boyfriend to narrow down what her wishes and desires were for an engagement ring. Well she text me again on Sunday and wondered if she could show him the rings she had tried on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. Well we shared a few times and I was happy to drive over to Winchester and open up just for them! She showed him her favorite 2 rings and I introduced a new ring to the collection and we had a wonderful visit together!  We talked about style, quality, size and shapes of diamonds and rings. They asked well though out questions and I gave them well thought out answers! I was very rewarding for me! Its as good as it gets as far as I am concerned.  You see my chosen profession is a happy one! Full of happy occasions needing gifts and symbols to anchor memories. And every time I succed to some degree or another in accomplishing it gives me a great satisfaction in being a part of their celebration. Not one that will ever be discussed in family pictures 20 years from now, but a part of the celebration none the less….. behind every great gift of jewelry is a GREAT JEWELER! And those are the shoes I strive to fill!  or is that Phill……. come see me for your next great symbol of love and celebration! AT PHANTASTIC ANNIVERSARY SAVINGS NOW UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

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Posted November 23, 2010 in News by Phil Foster

Sneak preview a success!

As we kicked off our HUGE anniversary sale this past week I can measure success in several ways! The one that is most important to me of course is the dollars that a sale or promotion generates and second is the profit on those dollars! And my dad and I are pleased with the Pre-sale! We sent out over 4000 postcard/invitations for a sneak peak of the extra merchandise we acquired with Trade Partners for this enormous sale. And to our friends, previous customers and followers on this blog, twitter and facebook we offered an extra 10% discount for four days! Four days that the general public was not aware of the sale, the selection or the extra savings! 

The most rewarding way for me to measure the success of any event is by how many gifts are purchased and how many men and women are going to be “ROCK STARS” (pardon the pun) this coming holiday season! AND WE CREATED A FEW ROCK STARS last week, without spoiling the surprise or the identity of the super heroes i can say that we sold almost a dozen pair of  large pair of diamond earrings, a beautiful sapphire and diamond pendant with more than two carats of stones and several diamond rings with 1/2 carat in diamonds up to one gentleman that bought his woman a one carat diamond ring for Christmas-Anniversary!  He is going to be the man! Many other “Santa’s” are going to be well thought of too! As they took advantage of the extra savings and selection to put a spectacular gift on layaway till closer to Christmas!

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Posted November 19, 2010 in News, Uncategorized by Phil Foster

Huge Trade Liquidation Partnership Sale

My name is Phil Foster, my Dad and I own Fosters Jewelers in Front Royal and Winchester VA. (check out the sparkling history category for more) And I want to tell you about the sale that is so special that it has been 25years in the making!

For the 25th celebration of our first anniversary we wanted to really do something special! So we started planning this event in the spring of 2010! We interviewed several companies to run a special sale for us. Our goals were to create an atmosphere of enormous value, savings, uniqueness and urgency. We of course wanted all of this while protecting our image and reputation that we had cultivated these last 30 years!

We finally settled on this sale! Trade Partners buys all sorts of close outs, overstocks and assets of closing companies. They brought in for the purpose of this promotion, THE CELEBRATION OF FOSTERS JEWELERS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, hundreds of rings, hundreds of necklaces, hundreds of pairs of earrings and hundreds of watches at HUGE savings UP TO 60% OFF!

We have all the bright colors of the of the holiday season too! Reds of rubies and garnets, greens of tourmaline and emerads, the bright sparkle of diamonds and even the cool blue hues of sapphires and blue topaz!

Pleas stop by between now and Christmas and see a great selection, save some money and buy your loved one that special something for the holidays. Buy a sparkley treasure and become a “ROCK” star today!

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Posted November 19, 2010 in News by Phil Foster

Sparkling History continues

Fred continued his jewelry career with The Jewel Box  Stores Corporation for a total of 25 years, managing stores in Strasburg, Front Royal, Asheville, Wilmington and supervising many others. He eventually went on the road selling Seiko watches after forming a partnership and opened the Diodon Seiko Distributorship in Atlanta. They service 7 states for Seiko USA. After selling his share of the distributorship he parlayed his industry contacts into a multi state company that sold to the Jewelers and Department stores direct   the southeast. Major accounts included Belk-Legget, Friedmans, Reeds, Carlyle and Co and several hundred independent jewelry stores.

Traveling more that 45 weeks a year is a challenge  and in 1984 Fred and Betty decided it was time to return home to Front Royal and opened a jewelry store on main street where it stand today! Fred and Betty had both graduated from Warren County High School and both had mothers living in town so it seemed natural to come back home and stop traveling those 13 states.

Check back for the next blog and see when and how Phil joined forces with his dad!

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Posted November 17, 2010 in News by Phil Foster

The earliest sparkle for Fosters Jewelers!

I guess the best place to start is the beginning, but how far back do we go to discover where the sparkle of Fosters begins?
The roots of that sparkle go back to the 1820’s in this community! My paternal grandmother was born in a house on Chester Street, she was born Dorothy Sumption. The origins of that house are easily traced in the book by Laura Virginia Hale: “On Chester Street”. A portion of that history includes two Sumption men that were blacksmiths on Chester Street in a shop behind that log cabin house on Chester Street where it was originally built across the street where the playground for the former elementary school E Wilson Morrison is now located.

Dorothy eventually married a young man from Long Island, NY via the Civilian Conservation Corps initiative of the great depression! Fred Foster like almost 20million other unemployed men of his time joined the CCC to provide for himself and his family in NY. He came to Front Royal as a fitness instructor from the CCC in Fort Dix, NJ. He met Dorothy shortly after singing at the Murphy Theatre in downtown Front Royal! They married soon after and had two children, Robert and Fred Jr. Robert died as an infant and is interned at Prospect Hill Cemetery. Fred grew up and graduated from Warren County HS where as a member of the Distributive Education class at the high school began his jewelry career working as a greeter at the Jewel Box on Main Street in Front Royal in 1955. Soon after graduation he married his high school sweetheart Betty Blakely and became Manager of the Jewel Box store in Strasburg, VA. And so the seeds that would become the sparkles of Fosters Jewelers were sown!

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