I am sure that you are probably asking, what are you doing in AZ? How did you decide
to go there?
And to that I would say that God brought us here.
We had been praying for over four years about the possibility of moving from Minnesota
where we had two jewelry stores to a better business situation for us. Not only were we
wanting to grow are business more, but we were also wanting to help Mark slow down,
have less stresses, not work such long hours, & not work alone.
We did consider closing one of our Minnesota stores which would allow Mark, Ruth, &
Jonathan to work in the same location. However, in talking with our business
consultants, this scenario would not bring in the revenue that we needed to stay in
business. Our market area was too small.
This sent us on a search to find other opportunities for our business. We talked to
outlets in our industry, asked questions, and searched for where there could be
opportunities to take over an existing jewelry store. The idea of being a new start-up
store was not an option at this point in our lives.
With the information that we had, we went on fact finding trips to look at existing
locations, but nothing seemed doable. Many of the places were looked were stores that
were almost dead in a bad location with no future.
In 2023 one of our salespeople told us about a couple more stores that wanted to sell.
We put these options on the back burner and didn’t give it much thought. Mark was
somewhat resistant to the idea of moving because there seemed to be no good options.
Some of you may already know, but Mark has been in a men’s gospel quartet since
2019 that sang in Minnesota. In the first part of the year they have a singing tour,
usually in the Phoenix area.
While on this tour in 2024 Ruth realized that we were close to one of these store
recommendations. “Hey Mark, Ruth said, it’s your day off from singing so let’s just go visit one of
these stores,”. It was close by so why not?" That is when we met Keith & Tammy Hinrichsen.
They were so wonderful to talk with and after 3 hours Mark came away from our meeting
more excited than I have ever seen him before!
to go there?
And to that I would say that God brought us here.
We had been praying for over four years about the possibility of moving from Minnesota
where we had two jewelry stores to a better business situation for us. Not only were we
wanting to grow are business more, but we were also wanting to help Mark slow down,
have less stresses, not work such long hours, & not work alone.
We did consider closing one of our Minnesota stores which would allow Mark, Ruth, &
Jonathan to work in the same location. However, in talking with our business
consultants, this scenario would not bring in the revenue that we needed to stay in
business. Our market area was too small.
This sent us on a search to find other opportunities for our business. We talked to
outlets in our industry, asked questions, and searched for where there could be
opportunities to take over an existing jewelry store. The idea of being a new start-up
store was not an option at this point in our lives.
With the information that we had, we went on fact finding trips to look at existing
locations, but nothing seemed doable. Many of the places were looked were stores that
were almost dead in a bad location with no future.
In 2023 one of our salespeople told us about a couple more stores that wanted to sell.
We put these options on the back burner and didn’t give it much thought. Mark was
somewhat resistant to the idea of moving because there seemed to be no good options.
Some of you may already know, but Mark has been in a men’s gospel quartet since
2019 that sang in Minnesota. In the first part of the year they have a singing tour,
usually in the Phoenix area.
While on this tour in 2024 Ruth realized that we were close to one of these store
recommendations. “Hey Mark, Ruth said, it’s your day off from singing so let’s just go visit one of
these stores,”. It was close by so why not?" That is when we met Keith & Tammy Hinrichsen.
They were so wonderful to talk with and after 3 hours Mark came away from our meeting
more excited than I have ever seen him before!