Michael follows up with Justin VanMatre of National Rarities to unpack a year of unprecedented growth and treasure hunting by hitting the sweet spot with Independent Jewelry stores through their estate buying events.
We also run through a session of "Would You Buy This?", putting Justin’s expertise to the test with one-of-a-kind items that might just cross their path.
Send feedback or learn more about the podcast: punchmark.com/loupe
Learn about Punchmark's website platform: punchmark.com
Michael follows up with Justin VanMatre of National Rarities to unpack a year of unprecedented growth and treasure hunting by hitting the sweet spot with Independent Jewelry stores through their estate buying events.
We also run through a session of "Would You Buy This?", putting Justin’s expertise to the test with one-of-a-kind items that might just cross their path.
Send feedback or learn more about the podcast: punchmark.com/loupe
Learn about Punchmark's website platform: punchmark.com
Welcome back everybody to In the Loop. What is up everybody? My name is Michael Burpo. Thanks again for listening to In the Loop this week. I'm joined by Justin Van Maeter from National Rarities and they do estate buying events at different retail jewelry stores. They come in, they do all the marketing and they promote the event and then they do all the buying and then they cut your percentage check for commission and for anything that's bought at your store and it seems like a really great and effective way for stores to kind of drum up some interest or get some foot traffic or just increase their client base and sometimes in like a weird part of the year. So we have actually already had Justin on, I believe, twice before once to talk about what an estate buying event is like, and then another time we had him at the client workshop and we just did a short interview with him there as well. This time we're talking all about how 2023 was for them and they continue to grow, but we also talk about trends on things that they purchase often, as well as how that changes every year. I also do a little segment on would you buy this, which is all the things I've seen on like antique roadshow or at different online events and I ask, would they be willing to purchase it if it got brought in at one of the shops that they're in? And it's a really fun talk. Justin's great on the mic so it's always fun talking to him. We have all their information in the show notes below, so if you're interested, make sure you check them out and mention that you heard about them from In the Loop and makes us look really good. Thanks and enjoy the conversation. Bye.
Speaker 1:This episode is brought to you by Punchmark, the jewelry industry's favorite website platform. Whether you're looking for better e-commerce performance, business growth or campaigns that drive traffic and sales, punchmark's website and marketing services were made just for you. It's never too late to transform your business with a user-friendly, point-of-sale, integrated website platform designed for growth and results. Sign up for your free demo today at punchmarkcom. While enjoying this week's episode, take a moment and leave us a star rating on the Spotify mobile app or, if you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a star rating and a review. It's the best way to help us grow and to show that you're really enjoying the show. Thanks, and now back to the show. Welcome back, everybody. I'm joined by Justin Van Maeter from National Rarities. I think third time that you're peering on In the Loop. How are you doing today, justin?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great, always love joining you on here and looking forward to another session.
Speaker 1:Heck, yeah man, I'm super excited. National Rarities, I don't know if burst onto the scene recently, but last year I feel like that's kind of you guys were really all the buzz. What was 2023 like for you guys over at National Rarities?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been an incredible year for us. Year over year, business grew over 100%. This was the second year in a row that that's happened for us and we're just looking at overall growth. That's considering our number of partners, the spend per event, which we'll get into some of those things a little bit later in the session, I'm sure. But employee-wise, just in the last two years, we've gone from 36 employees to 128 employees. So onboarding in that has been a fun element to the business and we really see just a huge runway, not just next year but really over the next 10 to 20 years, with the amount of wealth that's being transitioned down from the baby boomer generation to the millennials, generation X and all the above.
Speaker 1:Man, that's so cool and it sounds like you guys aren't ever going too deep into the well. It seems like everything is very sustainable as far as a lot of stores run. This. They plug it in once every two years, once every year, once every three years. They have their own system, depending on what kind of environment or community that they're a part of, and it seems like it just plugs right in and they build around it and it's just one way to activate their community. So I love hearing that, but perhaps maybe just to set it up, in case our listeners didn't listen to our first conversation could you give the elevator pitch for what National Rarities is, so that if people are tuning in for the first time, they know who you guys are?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Just to touch real quick, most of our partners are doing anywhere from two to four events a year. Oh wow. So it's amazing how much stuff is out there, which is what really the company's built off of this service and getting into that element of things. Essentially, national Rarities is an event-based estate buying company. We partner with jewelry stores across the country. That is 100% of where we do. Our events is with independent jewelers across the country and essentially what we do is we set up three to four day buying events during the middle of the week, either Monday through Wednesday or Tuesday through Thursday, and we come in, we handle all the paid advertisement, we pay for all of it. So there's no risk or upfront costs or any costs at all associated for the jeweler partners that we have, and over those three days we sit down and we make no pressure offers on a wide range of items.
Speaker 2:Most people out there have a pretty good idea of where to sell gold and jewelry. They know to go to their local jewelry store. Maybe there's a coin shop in town and of course we buy those things too. But what separates us from the other competitors out there, what separates us from the jewelry store and their typical business is we're buying things such as artwork, designer handbag, antique toys. So when you get into those types of items, really there's only a couple avenues to sell those items besides what we do, and that's online being the number one. But when we're talking about the baby boomer generation, we're talking about those people that don't necessarily want to sell something on eBay or trust the process, because it is a challenging process for a lot of people do and quite frankly, I'm 40 years old myself and I've never sold anything on eBay. I'd rather walk down the street, walk into a jewelry store that I trust and know and get a fair, competitive offer.
Speaker 2:So there are some areas and us working across the country. There's access in some areas for the local antique shop and those types of things, but because we have specialists in such a wide range of items, it allows us to really be specialist in different things that not every antique shop is going to be a specialist in. We have a number of seven graduate gemologists on staff and some of those important things that really elevate us to the level that brings estate buying to the level that jewelry stores can expect, and then, at the end of the day, if we make a purchase, we cut them a check right then and there. And at the end of the three days we cut a check for 10% commission to the jewelers as well and essentially why our partners continue to work with us is the foot traffic coming in. We're seeing that growth just from foot traffic alone, the 10% commission, the free advertisements feature in their logo and overall just generating revenue within the store during midweek and offering additional service to their customers.
Speaker 1:Man. It just seems like it really slots in really nicely and I'm kind of trying to give more options to our listeners and to retailers in general, that it's not just about having discounts at their store I mean, you can discount yourself to death at some point and I think it's about, at a certain point, activating your surrounding environment or your clientele or community, whatever you want to refer to it as and having that as having you know these event, estate buying events, having that as part of the arsenal and activating these clients is definitely, really, really important. So definitely love having some of our clients or our listeners starting to use you guys. Could you maybe start shining some light on how this past year looked as far as just some raw data? For example, can you share how many, how many events you guys did, maybe just in the US? I don't know if that's something you guys are forced to write with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course. So we are US based only, but we are expanding into Canada in 2024. So we're excited to grow into Canada and see what's out there as well. But from that standpoint, we did 444 events this year.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's huge man. Good congratulations, so exciting. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:So our heaviest week this year we did 16 events in one week. Holy smokes when we talk about our growth and number of people and that we really about 80% of our whole team of that 124 people is operational based. They're the specialists that are going out on the road and buying these things and they really what's great for us from a hiring process. These are art majors, history majors. These are the people that have specialized in these different products for a number of years and now are finding an opportunity to go out into across the country and feel history or feel art in their hands. So that's really that's the exciting part for us.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, 444 events and with that just getting into the number of people that we saw, we increased the number of people on average that we saw from 96 people in 2021 to 108 in 2022. And in 2023, we were seeing 136 people on average per event. So cool, yeah. So when you add all that up, it's just, it's exciting, because a lot of our partners that we've worked with for a number of years, dating back to 2009, the same things always said is where does all this stuff come from and how does it keep coming in? And just to continue to see growth in places that we go two to four times or maybe even more. In Las Vegas, we went eight times to a store and seeing that the events are actually growing and it just tells us that we haven't even tapped into the whole, really just macro level of what is out there and what people are looking and meeting this service. That's what's exciting to us.
Speaker 1:Man, it's like antique roadshow, but only the exciting parts.
Speaker 1:That sounds really, really cool, I guess. Maybe what demographics? You mentioned the baby boomers a couple of times. What demographics do you typically see coming through the store? I imagine it's the older people. When I think of a state jewelry, I think of older people, but I wonder, is it also people that might be younger, for perhaps millennials, that are being willed or bequeath pieces of antique jewelry or furniture or what have you, and then turning them in? I imagine that could also be a possibility. What are you seeing as far as folks that are coming through?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely a mix. You really touched on both of them. Especially, we added designer handbags this year and designer handbags has really started targeting that younger demographic as well. But you're really, when you're talking about when people are looking to sell something, especially when we're talking generally across the country, they've had an opportunity to really accrue these items over the years. So they've collected them over the years, if it's coins or if it's jewelry or artwork, whatever it may be. So that collection over the years is either going to be somebody in the baby boomer or 50 to 80 year old range, so it is going to be the younger generation that it was passed down to and now they're just looking and figuring out what to do with it or even learn about it. Just because grandpa or grandma or mom or dad was a coin collector, art collector or antique toys or a train collector over these years doesn't mean that the kids know anything about it, or care.
Speaker 2:Or care Absolutely. So just being able to inform them and talk to them about what they have and sometimes it has a lot of value, sometimes it doesn't. So the conversations are, hey, this doesn't have resale value, but if they're sentimental value to you, you absolutely should hold on to it, pass it down to the next generation, whatever it may be. So those are the fun conversations that we have, and so, yes, it's a range, but that 50 year old person that has expendable income and that really, for a lot of our stores, is the shopper of a state jewelry still too that is the sweet spot.
Speaker 1:Nice, justin, we're going to take a quick break and then when we come back, I want to hear, I want to do a quick rapid fire on will you buy this? So stay with us everybody, we'll be back in just one minute. This episode was brought to you in part by National Rarities. Are you looking to boost your business with no cost to you or want a special promotion for the doldrums of next year? Look no further than National Rarities estate buying events. National Rarities runs three day buying events from your store that not only attract new customers but also keep your current ones coming back for more. Their expert team of buyers are ready to visit your store, handle advertisements, lead the estate evaluations or are easy to work with. And it's not just jeweler purchasing they also buy designer handbags, artwork, antiques, stuff like that. These events frequently attract a different type of customer than your usuals, because who doesn't love getting a little cash back? Elevate your store's reputation, build lasting customer relationships and become the jewelry destination of your community. It's all about simplicity. They take care of the logistics. You enjoy the rewards. Visit nationalraritiescom. Slash pages. Slash host dash and dash event. It's going to be in the show notes below, or reach out to Justin Bandmater by emailing Justin, that's J-U-S-T-I-N at nationalraritiescom. Let them know that in the loop sent you Thanks back to the show.
Speaker 1:All right, everybody, and we're back, still talking with Justin Bandmater from national rarities. So I want to ask you, justin, would you buy this? So I watched a lot of antique roadshow and I am. I just moved to a new city so I'm constantly looking on Facebook marketplace and sometimes I'm like man, really you're trying to sell this on Facebook marketplace. So I wanted to ask you would you buy this? So you already mentioned pocketbooks. I wanted to ask antique wallets. Is that something you guys would purchase if it was in good condition?
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, especially if there's some kind of history to it, story to it, if there's a large brand behind it, of course. But absolutely, we love the antique. When it comes to the wallet, authentic leather, those types of things, yes, what about engagement rings?
Speaker 1:Perhaps the engagement didn't go off according to plan. Would you guys take secondhand engagement rings if, for example, someone bought it at a different store and they weren't able to get a full money return?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We buy engagement rings. We, like most jewelry stores out there. We do not buy the lab-grown diamonds. We can buy the rest of the ring or if it is your mind diamond, we buy that. We buy quite a bit of it. We saw some great growth in actually our diamond business this year as well, interesting All right, here's a hard one.
Speaker 1:What about trading cards? So, for example, antique Pokemon cards, antique Yu-Yoh or Magic the Gathering cards. What about that?
Speaker 2:So we are not quite into the trading cards, the Pokemon and Magic Gathering yet. However, it is on our radar. We are always looking to expand. We do get into sports cards and that, so that is part of what we purchase. But hopefully, when we have this conversation again, maybe later in the year or in 2025, I've got a different answer for you there, awesome.
Speaker 1:What about furniture, for example? Maybe it is an antique chair, armchairs, or maybe it is just like a nice piece of writing desk or something like that.
Speaker 2:Furniture is not one thing, but we stay away from furniture. We are traveling across the country, we are shipping everything home and furniture really just does not fall within our wheelhouse, typically because, and due to size, there are smaller items and we have bought a few higher end rugs and those types of things, but overall, generally furniture is not something we purchase.
Speaker 1:Okay, I got two more for you. What about and I saw this one on an episode recently what about like classic, for example, bicycles? I saw something it was like I think it was called a roadmaster or something like that when the classic ones with a Yu shaped handlebar. Is that something you guys would purchase?
Speaker 2:We've had a couple of opportunities. We don't see it very often, so I would say that is in the gray area, in the gray area Nice.
Speaker 1:I love that. And then the final one I guess I wanted to ask about what you guys are doing we touched on it last time about classic weapons. So these are guns, hunting rifles, things like that. Do you guys do buybacks, for example, with more war related weapons like AK47s, things like that, how I know? It's like a per store basis, but what is the current state on that for national rarities?
Speaker 2:Firearms is something that we a couple of our stores we still work with purchase firearms, but we have limited the number of firearms. Especially what we see from a firearm standpoint, though, is more of your vintage firearm, civil war those types of things. We get a little bit of the newer ones, but 10 towards the vintage, especially when it comes to swords and those types of things. Yes, we, absolutely. We still buy quite a bit of the sword. That sounds sad, Even get into things like old spears, and just I mean there's some really neat military items that have come our way through the years. We actually have a team of about well, a team of three of our military leaders that I tell you what. I see the excitement on their face every time these things come through, and it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. I love that One that I actually just thought of. Just maybe this will start to segue into what gets traded the most. I was curious about, for example, like specific objects that might require paperwork. So, for example, let's just say, Rolexes Everybody knows that or even just tutors or more higher-end watches A lot of the times those require paperwork with them or original box or things like that. I know that's true for sneakers. I was going to ask about classic or high-end sneakers, but what has to happen with? Will you guys only purchase things that we have original papers or boxes, or is that kind of up to the buyer's discretion?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's up to the buyer's discretion. We have a watchmaker on staff and we have Rolex high-end watch specialists in that as well. So when it comes to it, no, it does not require box and paperwork. But, as everybody knows, box and paperwork adds substantial value to those items. So it's considered in the pricing, of course, and I think that that's consistent for anybody buying those high-end watches across the market. If you have it, absolutely make sure you're bringing it in when you're looking to sell it, because it's amazing what difference in price that box and paperwork can provide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so funny I'll never forget. Bought my first pair of sneakers immediately through away the box. My friend was like, let me see a pic, show me a pic. He's like, no, put them on the box, I already threw it. He's like, well, you can't resell those anymore. I'm like, okay, I guess I just learned something right there. So let's talk about what gets traded the most. So what is making up the bulk of the actual events? Dollars, is it just, I imagine? In my eyes, I imagine being like old bracelets and necklaces that are heavy gold and perhaps have gone out of style. There may be the two like ornate or whatnot, but they're still made of a lot of gold. Am I wrong on that? What's makes up the bulk?
Speaker 2:You know it varies across the country. But yeah, when you're talking about what we see, you're talking about right around 50 percent is outdated jewelry, those types of things. A little bit smaller percentage, of course, is going to fall into your fine jewelry, resaleable side of things that we build our estate out of and resell online. But really a good portion of the number of items that we see come through are coins a huge category for us sterling silverware sets, but then the bulk of the really the third number of items is a pretty even mixture of artwork, antique toys, and then we get into the miscellaneous right, and miscellaneous could be books and just an old train set and those types of things as well. So it's a mixture across the country.
Speaker 2:You know, when you're going into some higher end socioeconomic areas, higher demographics, from that standpoint we tend to see you know larger diamonds and the fine jewelry and carier and Tiffany and Co and that type of stuff. But when you're out in your rural areas, what's neat about those rural areas is sometimes you just see coin collections that have been handed down for multiple generations yeah, crazy. And the artwork that maybe was sitting in the attic that they didn't know had value, and you know that gets into like a Salvador Dali whole suite of prints that we purchased and resold and I think it resold for $42,500, which was record breaking for that suite of prints. So for us to be able to come across that within a jewelry store add an event, I mean that's special and it's just fun for us, it's fun for the jewelry store, it's fun for the person that brought it in and really did get some dollars and that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:Exactly, Exactly Now, I guess, are you able to share. I mean, you just mentioned those Dali prints. That sounds amazing. What's like? What was? Can you share with the most expensive item that was perhaps brought in last year, or maybe a couple of items that might have been at the very top?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we buy large diamonds. So you know, we had a couple large diamonds this year. We had a little over 10 and a half carat round. It was KSI2, right around $96,000. And then we had a 13 carat hair shaped and that was right at $82,000.
Speaker 1:So 13 carat.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, that's like a rock, that's a rock, so you know. From that standpoint, you know the diamonds are typically going to be those higher end ones, and that's what's great about our partnerships too. Is some of our partners? Right? They do a little bit of buying, but it's not easy to cut a check for those amounts, right? Yeah, not many independent jewelers have that kind of cash laying around and that, and that's where we can come in and support them, not just during our events, it's year round. If something like that walks in the store and you know there's value, instead of being like, oh, I've got to let this go because I can't cut a check for that amount, we can make it happen and still bring in the jeweler on the upside of it too, which is great, man especially because they get a commission check on it.
Speaker 1:I mean that's probably very exciting for them.
Speaker 2:Probably makes their day, the commission check the service that you're providing to the customer and that it's definitely all encompassing it. It's a win-win for everybody, which is great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just the experience and everything is pretty exceptional. So definitely commend you guys on that. We're going to take one more quick break and then when we come back, I want to talk about maybe the how. Items fluctuate from year to year. So what was most common back in 2021 when you guys were just getting started, as opposed to maybe last year? So stay with us, everybody. We're just going to take one more quick break. Thanks, all right, everybody.
Speaker 1:Trade show season is here and our first stop this year is going to be RJO Palm Springs. If you're going to be in that neck of the woods from January 27th until the 29th, make sure you make an appointment to visit Punchmark. You can go to punchmarkcom, slash appointments or just visit punchmarkcom and look in the top right corner for book my appointment, fill out the information and mention that. In the loops on you hear all about our latest and greatest, from page speed updates to our integrations with new diamond dealers and premium vendors. It's going to be really fun at RJO. Make sure you stop by and say hi to everybody. Thanks and back to the show. All right, everybody.
Speaker 1:Still back with Justin van Maeter from National Rarities. So, justin, one thing I wanted to ask about is how do things fluctuate year to year? So you guys mentioned 2021, the number of people, but also how the events were going. So it seems like things are growing, but I'm also curious about what kind of items are getting brought in back then as opposed to perhaps the last year. I can only imagine that there's probably some seasonality to things as, for example, diamonds go in and out of like the size of diamonds go in and out of Vogue, or perhaps jewelry styles. What have you seen as far as trends throughout the year?
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean, you know the trends are always changing. What's been interesting over the last you know handful of years is it seemed like COVID and the pandemic really accelerated the way trends went. You know we saw a lot of that in the watch industry. You know we saw the high end the Rolexes especially just take off during COVID and the last three to four years. Just the price points that some of these watches were selling out was insane, and we saw this year really a return to normalcy when it came to the Rolex market, and so that, to me, is the biggest trend that stood out. You know, when we're talking about the steel sports models, those are the ones that really kind of held value, more so than some of the other models out there. But what we're seeing is really the Rolex resale is getting close to that 2019 market, so it's almost like we bumped it back five years. So I guess when we're talking about trends, that's the one that stuck out the most is from a, from a amount of how much it grew over a two to three year timeframe, and coming back down to earth.
Speaker 2:You know, artwork is another one where, if you look over the last 15 years, artwork has just had a steady decline in value per piece until you get into your really niche. You know high end that's tend to still grow and have value out there. But when you're talking about your mid range prints and that, it's been on a little bit of a steady decline in value as people are putting a little bit more value to items that they can wear jewelry, clothing, those types of things compared to what they can hang on their wall or showcase in their house. If you think about sterling silverware just for example, where it's come over the years. You walk into the home of the younger generations. It's a little bit more minimalistic and they don't have the China cabinets and those types of things.
Speaker 1:It's true, that's a good point.
Speaker 2:As we see trends. The trends are into the wearables and the jewelry and the value in there, and then the trends of the things that are collectible and hanging on your wall, and that a little bit of a decline. But you know, it's going to be interesting over the next few years, as things continue to level out from COVID, if we see a little bit of a spring back on some of those items as well. We're forecasting for a little bit of it, but only time will tell. Really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you know what's so funny? You mentioned watches. This is just on the side. I think one of my predictions for this year is I think that this is the year of the Grand Seiko watch. The reason why is because, of course I don't know if you follow baseball, but Shohai Otani just obviously signed the biggest deal of all time for an athlete, for the Dodgers. People that are listening I hope you already know If you don't get up on your current events but Shohai Otani is fond of apparently gifting people Grand Seiko watches as presents for his managers and things like that, first friends, and for some reason I think that that sort of ripple. I'm predicting a big ripple after that. So I'm going to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2:If it doesn't happen in the US immediately, it's happening in Japan. I'm based in St Louis, so I believe he gifted one of those to Lars Newpar because he played on the Japanese team in the World Series.
Speaker 1:That's the exact video I watch and I'm like, oh man, I'm researching Grand Seiko's. I'm like I kind of want one of these now. So perhaps we can talk about. Maybe some of these people that are listening are interested in having an event one day. So what have you seen store owners do that have contributed, perhaps, to an effective sale? I know that you guys handle pretty much everything when it comes to marketing and promoting and stuff like that, but what about things like is it good to have food at the events? Is it good to have, for example, beer or alcohol or wine or things like that? What have you seen that contributes to an effective estate bank event?
Speaker 2:As you mentioned, we come in and we handle that paid advertisement. So when it comes to that standpoint, of course, any suggestions or things that you've seen work for previous events just making those recommendations to our marketing team can definitely have an impact. Taking advantage of the free marketing. We have many of our stores that just do a great job with social media. They're doing a great job with their social media or are on their online website and putting up the web banner and those little things or utilizing their text messages and all the areas that are relatively free, and when we see somebody go live on Facebook, we've always seen a big bump from that.
Speaker 1:That's a good point.
Speaker 2:When it comes to the event itself, we really want to make sure that our stores are able to operate business as they normally do. We want them to engage with every customer that's coming in for our event and engage with them as if they are a customer walking through their doors. The stores that do that are the ones that are taking the clients that have just come in to sell something and turning them into their clients. What's interesting about our events is about half of the people that come in for our events have never been in the jewelry store before. That's crazy. So when you can imagine, 136 people on average are coming into the jewelry store, that's about 68 people that have never been in your store before. And if you treat every single one of them as if they were coming in to purchase something, even if it's as simple as offering to clean their ring or their bracelet just those little things engaging from that aspect is the long-term revenue generator that you want to get out of the event.
Speaker 2:And we have a couple stores that, yeah, they do a great job with little things.
Speaker 2:Just thinking about BBK up in Michigan, One of our clients Good guys, yeah, the smell of those fresh cookies coming out of their back room and having the champagne just out there on the sales floor, and just little things like that.
Speaker 2:I think, overall, anytime you can create an experience or add a smell to it, you know those are the little things that people remember and so we always encourage our partners to do stuff like that. We have another store out in the LA area that has a Margarita machine, so they just have fun with it. So ultimately, you know you mentioned Antiques Roadshow and it is an event, it's a service and ultimately we want to just create an environment alongside our partners that fits their customers and fits what they want their product to represent. And if that means the cookies or the champagne coming out, if that means a Margarita machine or if that means just being extremely professional and polite and asking them if they need the ring clean, that's where we want to mold our events to fit really the identity of the store. So we encourage our partners to really Do what you think works for you and we're in full support of it from that end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean just having an experience. I mean you put your finger right on it. When you think about the most positive brand kind of equity out there, and I think of like Disney World, I think about just amusement parks in general or like some of my favorite shops, and you're right, there is like a lot more than just what the products that are being offered there in associated with it. In my mind but I think of Disneyland it's not even really about the rides themselves, it's also about the environment and the space and the smells and the sounds and the life that comes from the space. That is kind of just even outside of just the rides, which is what is actually being marketed.
Speaker 1:So I totally agree and I love what you said about having it adapt and mold to match the identity of the store. I think that's what it really comes down to is understanding, first of all, what your store's identity is. Are you young and fun? Are you very high class and serious? Are you comfortable and approachable? All these terms are things that brands and style guides and just designers love to eat up. But having these additional assets like what you were talking about, event by events, match that style guide, is what really pushes things over the end. Also probably makes it so that they can have a couple of events in a row and not make it feel like, oh, they're doing a state buying more than they are selling jewelry. Instead, the jewelry store is having another awesome event, so I totally agree with you that sounds great.
Speaker 2:And some of our partners. They're building on top of it. They're building their own event or sales a week or two after and they're utilizing their four walls marketing to get those people that are coming in for our event to get them back in the door. Is it as simple as just putting together a wish list and those types of things? And who's? Is it your husband or wife? You want me to send this wish list off of Nice? A lot of our partners. They've been doing this for years and generations and they're really, really good at what they do, and this is just another opportunity to highlight what you're great at.
Speaker 1:Nice man. I love that, justin, and that's kind of my. One of my big pushes for this year is going to be is that jewelry stores especially independent retailers is actually the correct term I'm going for here are unique and by nature, and I'm hoping that our listeners can lean into that uniqueness of it and really kind of allow that feeling to spread to everything that they do, whether it's their website, whether it's their in-store experience or events like you're just talking about. I think really leaning into what makes you unique is going to be kind of one of my big pushes for this year for our listeners and for independent retailers as a whole. So I love that you guys are aiding in that, justin. Where can people find out more about national rarities or reach out to you if they're interested in having their first national rarities event at their store?
Speaker 2:Very easy. If you want to reach out, my email address is JustinJUSTIN at national raritiescom. Feel free to just shoot me a quick message. We can set up a time for a quick phone call or you can get on our website, that's just wwwnationalraritiescom.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and make sure you mention it in the loop and let them know that we sent you. And then, Justin, I got to know if you guys ever see any really six sneakers in a size of 11.5,. Make sure you just give me a call. I'll see if you can just buy them. Put them aside for me, We'll figure something out.
Speaker 2:I'll make sure we'll be heading to almost every major show this year, right, ijo, rjo, jck, centurion, all the above. So if we come across them, I'll make sure we bring them so you can try them on for size.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I would love that. That would make my day Everybody. Thank you so much, justin. I really appreciate your time. This is really great. We'll have to have a follow up to hear about how 2024 goes for you guys. I predict even more amazing stuff. It seems like you guys are on a real fast track to the top, so I appreciate you coming on Everybody. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week, tuesday, with another episode. Thanks Bye. All right, everybody. That's it for the show. Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1:This week's episode was brought to you by Punchmark and produced and hosted by me, michael Burpo. My guest this week was Justin Varenmater from National Rarities, and you can learn more about them in the show notes below. Reach out to them. Let them know that in the loop sent you makes us look really good. This episode was edited by Paul Suarez with music by Ross Cochrane. Please, please, please, rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts, and leave us feedback on punchmarkcom slash loop. That's L-O-U-P-E, and let us know what you think about these interviews. Thanks, check back next week, tuesday, for another episode. Bye.