Choosing a Store
Everything up to this point can be pure theory and conducted entirely from the luxury of your sofa with nothing more than an internet connection and a spreadsheet. Next comes the time to actually pick out the setting and hand over your cash. The one thing that sat with me most after all the time spent visiting stores, don’t buy over the internet. Two stones could have such similar specifications yet due to the cut be vastly different in how they looked under light. And if you’ve spent any time looking at sites that sell diamonds over the internet, you’ll know how horribly diamonds photograph. It’s when they look at most like a piece of glass, and that’s not what you’re wanting to buy.
You could spend a week visiting every store in Hatton Gardens in London (apparently one of the main diamond hubs in the world), and I spent a reasonable amount of time doing just that. From what I gather for the sheer number of jewellery stores there the majority are just a front for one of about a half dozen jewellers. For those that want to be certain of ethically sourced diamonds, I think Abiba is the only one that promoted selling CanadaMark diamonds. There was also outfits like CoolDiamonds.com, which are primarily online businesses, but have a retail outlet there for those who like me were concerned about purchasing without seeing the product first.
As I’ve already stated though, this wasn’t a decision that was being driven by rational economic process, it’s an emotional investment. And so last of all I went and compared what I wanted with similar styles at Tiffany & Co. The rings were all beautiful, the stones great, and the service both the most relaxed and helpful I’d encountered. With the level of recognition they’ve attained I think they don’t really need to sell the rings there, at least it certainly felt that way. At no point was the salesman pushing me, spinning me lines, or at any point acting at all like a “salesman”. Maybe that’s why he had “consultant” on his business card? We sat down, I was specific about the style of ring I wanted and my price range, and he bought back a selection of rings they had that fit the criteria. Much to my suprise, they really weren’t that much more expensive than the rings I was already considering.
I decided that given the professional service, the presentation of the ring, and the fact that every girl loves the sight of that little blue box, that I was happy to pay a little bit more to get something we’d both be happy with.
