About Us
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Owners: Keith and Judy Orchard |
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History
Current owners
Keith and Judith have owned Regal Jewellers Traralgon since November 1997, taking over from John Barthelson.
John had owned the store for 17 years, and was in fact going to close the doors in June 1998 if he didn’t find a buyer. Keith and John had known one another for some time, and over a cup of coffee, John flippantly said to Keith “You ought to buy this place”…..and the rest is now history!
At the time the building and range of stock were in such a condition that the store wasn’t the first port of call for jewelery buyers in Traralgon.
Revitalization Program
Within the first two years of taking over, we had completely repainted and decorated the place, introduced many new and exciting stock lines, increased ranges, basically bringing the store back up to speed.
Having joined the Nationwide Group (Australia’s largest group of individual jewellers), we utilized every marketing tool available to them from the group, and the result was outstanding!
Within two years the turnover had increased by over 65%, the people were coming back in droves, fighting all the new customers to get in. (We were voted Nationwide's Australian Member of the Year in 2005)
Building Re-built
In 2004, with the help of our fantastic landlords, the entire building was demolished, extended and rebuilt to “modern” standards (it had been standing nearly 100 years!!). With the extra space, we were able to employ jewellers to work on the premises, another strong feature of the business
Antwerp Broker
By far the biggest boon to the business has been the whole Antwerp experience, again, provided by Nationwide. Regal Jewellers are now seen locally as the place to go for Diamonds. (For further information go to Antwerp Broker.)
Citizen Stockist - largest east of Melbourne
Working closely with sales representatives is a vital part of the business, and singling out one might seem unfair, but David Ward from Citizen Watches Australia has been utterly dynamic in his enthusiasm to continually look for ways to help Regal Jewellers promote the Citizen brand. Regal Jewellers Traralgon is the largest stockist of Citizen product east of Melbourne, and working hand in hand, the aim is to continually grow the product in the area.
Strength in Individual Ownership
Being individual owners , rather than a chain store is also a strength. We have the last and only say in what we stock.
We are not dictated to by “head office” somewhere, that knows nothing of Traralgon and its customers or trends. We are in the store everyday. We manage the store. We buy the stock. We are Regal Jewellers Traralgon.
Our background
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we both got our start in Morwell, working for Jephcott’s the Jewellers. Keith left in 1990 after 12 yrs to work at Radio 3GG for six years, Win TV for a year, followed by a further one year stint with Something Special Jewellers.
Keith says “I feel I have worked for some outstanding people over the years, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. It has been up to me to decide which was which, and benefit from the experience”
Judy left after two years and worked for the Land Titles Office (Law Dept) in Morwell, before going to The Public Works Dept, Traralgon, and Education Department in Moe, but not forgetting a 15 month stint at The Bush Basket in Traralgon.
Along the way we have raised two beautiful daughters, and they have had to grow up here,( like it or not!) , but it doesn’t seem to have done them any harm……
