Sometimes an emphatic “no” turns into a resounding “yes.” Ever since she was a kid, Deja Laufer had helped out at the family jewelry store, so there was no reason to suspect anything when her mother, Akasha Noelle, asked her to work over the holidays. But nothing could have prepared her for what came next: Laufer’s mother announced that she was leaving the business and basically handed the keys to her daughter.
“I didn’t want it, but she was so persistent. And now I can’t imagine doing anything else,” acknowledges Laufer, president and CEO of Deja & Co. Exquisite Jewels in Saratoga, California.
At the time, Laufer — a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a major in philosophy — had been planning to attend law school. With her career path upended, she decided she would no longer sell collectible coins, the store’s specialty, but go “strictly into jewelry.” While her mother agreed, Laufer remembers her admonishment: “Don’t lose any money.”
That didn’t exactly go according to plan, either. Laufer recalls making many mistakes, but she became more resilient in the process. In 2004, she moved the store from Cupertino, California, to its current location in a more affluent community, and changed its name from Golden Cache to the one it bears now.
Designing her own space
Relocating gave Laufer the chance to put her stamp on both the store design and the jewelry assortment. “It was the hard copy of Pinterest before there was even a Pinterest,” she declares. “I wanted the store to be warm, inviting, beautiful and not like any other store.”
Her first purchase set the stage: “We found a set of niches dating from 1840s France in the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. They had been salvaged from a church fire in Quebec and purchased by an antique dealer in Atlanta, Georgia.” For the counters, she selected marble with a light blue cast “that became our signature color — Deja Blue — which we use in all our marketing collateral and catalogs.”
Deja Blue is also the perfect backdrop for the fancy-color diamonds and gemstones — particularly emeralds and rubies — that are among the store’s top sellers. Its key suppliers include Omi Privé, L.J. West Diamonds, and JB Star.
“When you first walk in, you see a lot of color. It’s one of my passions,” Laufer explains. She is quick to point out that alexandrite, another popular seller, is her personal favorite — so much so that marketing director Bria Brenizer has dubbed her the “Tsarina of Alexandrite.”
Woman to woman
Rings with big center stones and long, hanging earrings are the pieces of choice among Laufer’s customers, whom she describes as “incredibly supportive,” successful women who bring their friends and family to the store. “Being woman-owned and -staffed helps us relate intuitively to a woman’s style and personal tastes,” she says, though she adds that the all-female staff wasn’t deliberate; few men have applied for sales positions.
Laufer likes to involve the customer in the design process from the start. “A lot of people are quite creative, but they don’t realize it unless you ask the right questions. Then the jewelry becomes more personal and special to them.”
Laufer identifies two common trends: sleek and modern, and intricate floral designs. “Millennials are also reviving styles from the ’80s and ’90s. We’ve seen those before, but they’re new to them.” In addition, she sees gold and Tahitian pearls gaining in popularity, and she insists customers try them on. “They’re calming and comforting; once they embrace you, they’re irresistible.”
But ultimately, for Laufer, “it’s all about finding out what’s in our customer’s heart.” And despite her initial misgivings, the store has become a labor of love. “I may have been rebellious at first, but my mother was right.”
Image: Kristian MelomArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2019. To subscribe click here.