ModernJeweler.com |

Diamond branders often help retailers create dedicated spaces for their product within jewelry stores. Boston-based Hearts On Fire became the first to have its name on an entire door, with its June 26 opening at the Shoppes at the Water Club Hotel, the new expansion of the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “We already have six doors in Taiwan and one in Macao,” says vice president of retail, Ellen Maloney. “This is simply the U.S. extension of the brand recognition that a dedicated door brings at the consumer level.”

What first strikes the eye, entering the 800 square foot door, is that everything in here is set with white diamonds. And from $1,000 price point pavé pieces to the $1 million necklace in the display window, every diamond is VS-SI, G-H Hearts On Fire.

Then you notice how low the lighting is. “Jewelry stores are usually very bright,” says Bernie Robbins’ Harvey Rovinsky, who with his wife, Madalyn, owns and operates not only this store but Borgata Jewels next door. “You don’t need it with Hearts On Fire,” he says, taking pieces out of cases and showing them in even darker lighting below. “I couldn’t do that if I was selling watches here.”

“Perhaps the most exciting thing about this for me,” says Katharine Ross-Pineau, whose designs have greatly enabled the company’s growth for five years, “is the direct feedback from consumers, which we’ve been already getting in Asia.” To that end, the store’s eight sales associates went through rigorous screening and training. “What I’m seeing is increasing similarities across the globe. Platinum’s still stronger in the U.K., and the average stone is still larger here than in Australia or Asia, but the gap is narrowing.”

The Atlantic City opening is showing early success for Hearts On Fire fashion jewelry, particularly the new signature collection and “Perfection in Platinum,” six new rings for 1 carat-plus diamonds. It also demonstrates clearly the company’s long-term shift from loose to finished goods.

Should Hearts On Fire jewelers worry about retail competition from their vendor?

“Absolutely not,” says Hearts On Fire president and chief operating officer Mark Israel, who adds that the company is considering other U.S. venues. “Building the brand experience can only help across the board at consumer level, and this retail opening is all about brand awareness.”

Israel also points out that the Water Club store is not Hearts On Fire’s property, but Rovinsky’s, and that the business model is identical to other relationships: Hearts On Fire selling to a retailer, though here with greater consultation on product mix and store appearance.

The Water Club door is identical to one in Taiwan, and Rovinsky says that he has remerchandised twice since the store’s soft opening a month before. “There’s been more bridal and more self-purchase than we’d anticipated. Look, Judith Ripka has her own door,” he adds. “And the Hugo Boss next door to us here? It’s not owned by Boss, but by a strong local retailer. And I think the time had come. A lot of jewelers carry Rolex, but there’s only one Rolex. Others carry Hearts On Fire, but there’s only one Hearts On Fire. This opening simply reinforces that simple reality.”
— Ivan Solotaroff