Q & A with Geoffrey Scott
By Evelyn Orthwein
Tri Valley Magazine, January/February 2008 Issue

TRI VALLEY MAGAZINE INTERVIEWED GEOFF COOPER OF GEOFFREY SCOTT IN DOWNTOWN DANVILLE. GEOFFREY SCOTT OPENED ITS DOORS JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO, BUT THE STORE HAS ALREADY CREATED BUZZ BY DIFFERENTIATING ITSELF FROM TRADITIONAL JEWELERS IN THE AREA.

Who is Geoffrey Scott?
The store and the brand I'm trying to build from the ground up is a different concept than what has been done before. We really want to solidify the Geoffrey Scott brand and move forward away from the jewelry store into a concept, lifestyle brand and image. People will recognize that they'd be coming for just about everything - they should feel comfortable knowing that we have it. I've got a lot of classic, conservative diamond pieces but it's the fun fashion pieces of any price-point that have been the ones that are selling. And people are loving it. Also, it's our goal to bring on a few major handbag lines in the next year. I'm in the process of developing my own handbag line, really top end, high quality like Marc Jacobs and Chloe. We're looking to get them in to Niemans and Saks.

What do you see as the future of jewelry retail?
I think the jewelry business has changed a lot and I think the direction we need to head in is combining fashion jewelry with high end jewelry. I can't tell you how many times since we've opened the store that people who were at first hesitant to come in, came in, were excited to see that we had something for $50-$60, made a purchase and have been back to buy more. They've sent customers to us and have even come back to spend $3,000-$4,000 since we've opened. Had we not had the icebreaker, the beginning price point and the fun fashion pieces, we wouldn't be getting the traffic that we're getting.

How did you get started in jewelry?
At 20 years old I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to go into the family business which was insurance. I had friends that worked for a company called Simayoff and they'd said, you need to check it out. So I went and talked to the owner. He was 30 years old, had all the vision in the world, all the energy and the excitement and that really hit it for me. I felt excited, I got on board and I worked almost ten years, pretty hard, six to seven days a week for him.

What is it about about jewelry and retail that you prefer to any other business profession?
I really enjoy meeting more people. Everyday you have the potential to meet a new customer and new friends. Over the years I'd say that 60% of my customers are not only repeat customers but they're friends of ours. I happened to meet my wife through a very good customer of mine. They introduced us and they were at our wedding. We've become one big tight group. It's been a lot of fun.

Obviously this is a new store, what made you want to open your own place?
I never did actually. I was very content with the company I was working for, and I thought I could be there forever. But I worked a lot, and I got married in July of last year and it's hard. It's hard to work six to seven days a week, and think about having a family. It's fine when you're single and it was easy. But I turned 30 in February and I said, you know what? I don't want to be 40 with kids in private school or a mortgage and have that much more to lose by taking the leap. My wife and I talked it over and said, hey, if there's ever a time to fail, 30 is the time to fail. I have the energy to do it now and I have the time.

Do you personally favor any particular stone or gem?
I like colored stones. I do a lot of semi-precious, really high end semi-precious colored stones because I think you can get so much impact out of them They're so many different shades and colors and shapes that you can get in semi-precious that you can't get in really rare and precious stones. You can get really deep beautiful colors. It enables you to get more and do more with them as opposed to a diamond, sapphire, ruby or emerald because of cost effectiveness.

Do you have a particular type of dream client?
I have a lot of very good clients as it is, honestly. The best customers are the ones that become close friends. Those customers send people. To me that's more important than them coming a few times a year.

What's your view of the style in Danville and this area?
My view is changing, definitely changing. A lot of people have asked me isn't this a little too cutting edge? But the feedback that I've gotten is tremendous: people were starving for something different, starving for a selection. In fact the most cutting edge, riskiest pieces that I have are the ones that are selling the best. And people are loving it.

What do you think makes your work worthwhile?
You deal with happy people every day. In this business, every day, every person you see, if somebody's buying jewelry, it's generally because they're happy. Whether they're getting a treat for themselves or giving it to someone they love. That's the beautiful thing about the business. It's that you don't have things that drag you down or that emotionally drain you. As exhausting as it can be to work every day, all day, the energy that you get through positive interaction with a customer is far more powerful.