Hey guys, sorry for the lapse in posts this past week (more on that in my next post), but I'm very excited to bring you volume 2 of my feature for the Market at the Piazza. This past week, I met with Joi from Diva Chic Jewelry, one of the most popular vendors at the Market. I actually gave you a sneak peak of Diva Chic in my last post, because I was so excited over my new finds that I couldn't wait! Check out my interview with Joi below:
What is Diva Chic Jewelry?
Diva Chic Jewelry is a family owned business, started by myself when I was 26. I opened up a small boutique selling clothing, handbags, shoes, jewelry in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Since then, my mother and I have collaborated and formed a great business relationship.
Where does your jewelry come from? Is it handmade or secondhand?
I used to sell hand made beaded jewelry that I made myself when I had the boutique, but now we simply resale great finds from our vendors and from various sources around the world. We find the jewelry that we buy from a variety of wholesalers that we have found to be quite reliable in offering quality merchandis over the years. Also,in our travels we will pick up different pieces that we find to be interesting.
Describe your personal style and how it translates to Diva Chic.
Our style is very glitzy, we like the so called "bling". We try to follow the trends and offer some very bold pieces that you may not otherwise find anywhere else at our pricepoint. A few jewelry trends that I have noticed are that anything with flowers, or animals are really in right now. Chunky and bold jewelry is also really big right now. We sell items anywhere from $3 - $40. with I'd say about $15 being the average for most pieces.
What attracted you to selling at the Piazza? How do you make yourself stand out amidst dozens of jewelry vendors?
We were initially attracted to the Piazza because we were trying to stay away from your typical flea market scene. We wanted a more permanent place to sell our merchandise so that we could build a customer base. We love the atmosphere and diversity here at the Piazza. People from all over come here and it gives us the oppurtunity to promote our business and our website.
I think that we stand out because we do have a pretty distinct style, but at the same time people with all different types of taste can find something that they enjoy. We are consistent with our merchandise, we constantly bring in new items, and our prices our very affordable. We believe that we are successful at the Piazza because we always keep our customers and their needs in mind. We are not here to just make a quick buck, but to build on longevity and to keep our customers coming back.
What are your short and long term plans for Diva Chic? Our short term goals are to stay here at the Piazza and build up our inventory. People say that we have a lot of stuff, but I think that with the right planning, we can double the amount of merchandise that we put out. Long term goals, I would say is to really build and promote our website. We would love for it to become our main source of revenue at some point. Not to say that we wouldn't continue doing the Marketplace, but we would like to see the website reach it's full potential.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
People often ask us, "How do you guys do this every weekend?" I'd just like to add that we really enjoy what we do! It's not work to us, although we are very tired come Monday morning. We wouldn't trade what we have going on right now for the world.
For more information on Diva Chic Jewelry, check out their website. Those living outside of Philadelphia can still purchase Joi's great jewelry at the online shop.
The Market at the Piazza runs 12:00-7:00pm, every Saturday and Sunday, year round. For more information on the Market or to inquire about vendor opportunities, check out the Piazza at Schmidts website.
No comments:
Post a Comment