Ahh, the life of a jeweler.
Stuart Wyndham Lee Moore lives in a 15th century castle in Somerset, England, where cows roam the 84-acre estate.
Moore, owner of three jewelry stores, including Stuart Moore at Fashion Island, now has time for cows and charity work.
“My wife would tell you I work like a maniac,” he said.
In England, Moore counsels and finances 12 poor students through college.
“That’s my main work,” he said.
These days, son Andrew Moore runs the family’s stores. The other two are in New York and San Francisco.
Stuart Moore was in town recently to celebrate the retirement of one of his longtime workers, Shirley Thorpe, who has been with the jeweler since he opened the Fashion Island store 30 years ago.
When Moore was building the Fashion Island store, Thorpe walked by and asked when it was opening.
“It was just natural,” he said. “She just fits.”
She’s silver haired and a “slightly severe dresser,” he said.
She’s trustworthy, Moore said. “She remembers people’s names. I forget everybody’s name.”
Thorpe has brought stability to the store and has trained most of the jewelers who have worked there, including Andrew Moore, he said.
“She’s known me since I was a little squirt,” Andrew Moore said.
In 1997, Andrew Moore opened the San Francisco store. He has homes here and there and lives in hotels when he travels to New York.
Stuart Moore and customers sipped champagne and wished Thorpe well. She and her husband plan to travel and golf.
Stuart Moore also recently ushered in a team recruited from Saks Fifth Avenue at South Coast Plaza. Geri LaPorte, former manager of Saks fine jewelry department and four of her staff signed on.
Stuart Moore said he’s been training them on the company’s way of doing things.
“We’re a peculiar lot,” he said.
All of the jewelry is made by hand instead of cast, he said. Salespeople get yearly performance bonuses instead of commission.
“It works,” he said.
Staff work four long days per week.
“We dress them in black so they look SoHo, New York,” he said.
Moore, originally an engineer, got into the jewelry business after his mother died in 1962. Distraught, he traveled to Australia, looking for his father. His family warned him he wouldn’t like his father. But he went looking anyway.
“I found my father,” he said.
He didn’t like him.
Twenty years later, dad came to work for Stuart Moore as financial director when the store was known as Wyndham Lee.
It was while he was in Australia that Stuart Moore took a job in a jewelry store. He liked it.
Eventually, venturing through England and Canada, he made his way to Southern California, known in those days as “the land of milk and honey,” he said.
He opened at the mall because it was the thing to do then. The store has moved about five times at Fashion Island, settling on its current spot between Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus.
“It’s a great location,” he said.
The other two stores aren’t in malls.
Stuart Moore’s main focus is bridal rings.
“Ours is a small niche in the marketplace,” Andrew Moore said. “We sell more diamonds than anything else.”
Change could be brewing.
“Our plans are to be bought by one of the very large companies that sell diamonds,” Stuart Moore said.
The potential buyer could seek to make the jeweler a global luxury brand and grow to about 40 stores, Stuart Moore said.
Andrew Moore likely would carry on as manager, he said.
Crevier Surpasses $300M
Crevier BMW in Santa Ana had a solid 2005, growing sales 9.4% to $302 million.
That was good enough to make Crevier the top BMW dealer in the Western U.S. The dealership, traditionally the No. 1 BMW seller in North America, lost that title in 2005 on a technicality.
A couple of dealerships in Florida combined to take the top spot nationally last year, by 170 cars.
But Crevier is looking to get its crown back. The dealership beat its Florida rival in January sales.
In 2005, Crevier sold 4,500 new BMWs, minis and “sport activity vehicles” last year. The dealership expects to beat that this year.
Crevier is expanding. The first phase,more room for used cars and parking,is expected to be done in April.
After that, the dealership is set to grow by 150,000 square feet, with a new main showroom and a Mini showroom. Parts and service also are expanding. The project is set to wrap up in 2008.
Some of Crevier’s standard amenities: bringing test vehicles to shoppers within 30 miles of the dealership; free car washes six days a week; rides to John Wayne Airport; and roadside service within 30 miles of the dealership.
