Cool as Ice

Matthew Patton grew up in the jewelry business; his family owns Patton’s Fine Jewelry in Baton Rouge. But he decided to go out on his own in 2012, operating out of a five-hundred square-foot office and growing by word of mouth until he was able to build enough capital to open the Jefferson Highway storefront in November 2014. Last month, his store, called Cut Fine Jewelers, took third place in the “Small Cool” division in a competition held by industry magazine INSTORE, in part for Patton’s modern approach to selling jewelry.

Step into the store, located on Jefferson Highway near its intersection with Bluebonnet, and it’s immediately clear that this isn’t your grandparents’ jewelry store.The walls are a neutral grey, and scattered around the showroom are sheik display cases, lit by slim in-case LEDs, that the customer can walk around. On one case, situated near the entrance, a selection of diamond engagement rings sit atop the case, an unusual and explicit invitation to the customer to touch and try-on.

This “interactive” floor plan is the modern approach to selling fine jewelry, a contemporary browsing-and-buying experience that disrupts the traditional scenario: a customer walks into a store lined with display cases behind which a salesperson hands you one item at a time, waiting for you to indicate with glass-smudging index finger the next piece you’d like to try on. Save for a bank of engagement rings where the traditional layout persists (a more comfortable buying experience for men making one of the largest purchases they’ll ever make, Patton explained), at Cut the customer and the salesperson stand on the same side of the case; and when the display drawer is pulled out, the customer is invited to dig in herself. “This is where the industry's heading. If someone want to be on that forward thinking, modern side of the jewelry busies, this is how they're going to set up their shop," Patton said.

With the award, Patton’s Cut was also recognized for its marketing materials, website, and company culture, which emphasizes educating the customer over making the sale. "We want to make sure that when people come in, the store doesn't feel like a museum. It's not stuffy, it's not quiet. We want people to try on jewelry. We want them to have a good time. We want it to feel inviting. Innovative disruption, it seems, is not the sole domain of tech companies. 

Innovative disruption, it seems, is not the sole domain of tech companies. Find Cut at cutfj.com.