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Sonny's Diamonds & Jewelry closing in Cherry Creek North

Lost lease, poor economy figure in jewelers' decision

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Tammy Vogt prices jewelry Tuesday morning for a going-out-of-business sale at Sonny's Diamonds & Jewelry, 100 Fillmore St., in Cherry Creek North. Sonny's building lease is ending after nearly 30 years in business, and the owners said they were unsuccessful in finding a suitable new location.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Tammy Vogt prices jewelry Tuesday morning for a going-out-of-business sale at Sonny's Diamonds & Jewelry, 100 Fillmore St., in Cherry Creek North. Sonny's building lease is ending after nearly 30 years in business, and the owners said they were unsuccessful in finding a suitable new location.

Co-owner Mark Rutkowski, right, surveys the store as, from left, Carol Johnson, Jaci Fischer and Tammy Vogt are reflected.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Co-owner Mark Rutkowski, right, surveys the store as, from left, Carol Johnson, Jaci Fischer and Tammy Vogt are reflected.

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Sonny's Diamonds & Jewelry, which has fitted everyone from young couples with modest engagement rings to executives with diamond-encrusted designer watches, is shuttering its doors after nearly 30 years in business.

The Cherry Creek North store's lease is ending, and after the owners couldn't find a suitable new location, they decided to say goodbye with a blow-out store-closing sale that begins today.

"There was a lot of soul searching" to make this decision, said Michael Nedler, 55, who co-owns Sonny's. "The jewelry business is a relationship-based business. For the most part, it's not a one-time purchase."

Sonny's is named after Nedler's father, who started the business with his son as a leased department in the women's couture store Montaldo's in the late 1970s. At the time, customers' tastes trended toward black-tie affair showpieces and high-fashion jewelry.

After Montaldo's went out of business in the early 1990s, Sonny's moved to its current Cherry Creek North location across the street from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Today, Sonny's features more everyday pieces as well as a slate of top designers, including Philip Stein Teslar watches, Judith Conway diamond and bridal jewelry and Hidalgo stackable bracelets.

The skittish economy, which is walloping luxury goods retailers like Neiman Marcus and Saks,factored into the decision to close Sonny's, but it wasn't the principal reason, Nedler said.

In his 29 years, Nedler has seen "some pretty tough times," though he added that Sonny's never had an unprofitable year.

"It's certainly as tough as I've ever seen it," he said. "But the one thing in business that I've learned is appreciate the good years because they don't last forever, but don't despair with the bad because they don't, either."

Sonny's broke the news about its closing by sending out an e-mail on Monday to its more than 6,000 loyal customers. The store has been fielding calls ever since. Sonny's was closed Monday and Tuesday to allow the employees to mark down all the merchandise.

Other jewelers in Cherry Creek North's business district were surprised to hear that Sonny's is going out of business.

"We don't really compete," said Mary Lou Carnegie, store manager at John Atencio. "We complemented each other - if I had clients in here that couldn't find something to their tastes, I would send them on to Sonny's.

"It definitely leaves a hole, and is a loss for everyone."

Brian Foster, owner of Foster & Son, knew Sonny Nedler years before Foster even opened his first leased store. He said he could always rely on the staff at Sonny's to be helpful if he had a question or request.

"As large as the jewelry business is, it's still a pretty small family," Foster said.

Sonny's will keep its doors open until it has liquidated its entire $4 million inventory.

"We want to get rid of this - we can't hold onto it and store it in our garage," said Mark Rutkowski, 40, who co-owns the store with Nedler.

Among the deals that start today: a 2.6-carat yellow diamond set among 1.3 more carats of diamonds is marked down to $46,400 from $58,000. A strand of Tahitian pearls is 70 percent off its $14,000 original price, and all Oris Swiss-made watches are 20 percent off.

Six Sonny's employees will lose their jobs. And Nedler and Rutkowski are trying to figure out what they'll tackle for the next phases of their own lives. Sonny Nedler died in 1997, and Michael says he thinks his father would have made the same decision, given the circumstances.

Comments

  • November 19, 2008

    6:36 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    bookworm writes:

    Sad news. I hope all of the employees get a good package out of this too, especially since they lost their jobs. Sounds like some great deals will be offered though! The Tahitian pearls come down from 14000.00 to 4200.00!! What a steal, if you have the $$$.

  • November 19, 2008

    3:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Competitor writes:

    I used to be one of Sonny's competitors. If anybody should have bad things to say about them, it should be me. But I don't.

    Truther's suggestion that Sonny's was overpriced is bunk. If they had been overpriced then it would have been easy to take sales away from them.

    The real truth is that when you do a close out sale you sell a whole lot of things at cost or below cost.

    The things sold below cost are the things that are "tough to sell" like tahitian pearl strands. Please note that I have no dog in this fight because I've retired and moved away.

    FWIW: When I blew my inventory out at my retirement, the net sales were almost as much as I had in inventory. Yeah that's right, I didn't make a lot of money in the closing sale, but that is the reality of independent family jewelers closing sales.

    I have confidence that the sale they run will be legitimate.

    May I be so bold as to suggest that you look at Truthers comments, I think you can see where he or she is biased.
    Respectfully submitted.

  • November 21, 2008

    11:12 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mooseskico writes:

    I have been a long time customer of Sonny's... it's sad to see them going away! It has always been a pleasure to do business with them. I have always felt that they were very reasonable and incredibly nice. I have been in many jewelry stores in
    Denver and never felt better about dealing with people better than I have with them. It is truly a horrible loss for the city... there aren't many jewelers like them in town that I feel like I can trust. It is truly a shame to lose such an icon in this city. I went in to the store yesterday for their sale and it is incredible... the deals are amazing. I recommend going if you are in the market for something, you won't be disappointed!! Sad to see you go guys... you are great!