So, I ended up at Kay Jewelers in Des Moines a while back. Wasn’t for anything fancy, mind you. My wife’s birthday was coming up, and she’d mentioned wanting a simple little necklace, nothing extravagant. I’m not much of a jewelry guy, but I figured, how hard could it be?
I walked into the store, it’s in one of those malls, you know the kind. Bright, almost too bright, and everything behind glass. Smelled faintly of cleaning solution. A couple of sales folks were hovering. One of them, a younger guy, spots me and heads over. Friendly enough, I guess. Asked if I needed help.
“Yeah,” I said, “looking for a simple silver necklace. For my wife. Nothing too showy.”
He leads me over to a counter. Starts pulling out trays. Lots of sparkly stuff. He’s pointing out this and that, talking about carats and cuts even though I said silver, simple. I had to stop him, “Look, really, just plain silver. Maybe a small pendant, but that’s it.” He seemed a bit deflated, like I’d insulted his prize collection. But, okay, he switched gears.
He shows me a few. Some were okay, pretty standard. Then he picks one out, says, “This one’s really popular.” It was alright, a little heart thing on a chain. I asked the price. He tells me, and it seemed a bit steep for what it was. I’m no expert, but I’ve bought jewelry before. This felt like mall prices, you know? Paying for the rent and the bright lights.
I asked if they had anything a bit more… I don’t know, reasonably priced for a simple piece. He gave me this look. Not rude, exactly, but like I was asking for a unicorn. He showed me a couple more, slightly cheaper, but they looked, well, cheaper. Flimsy. Like they’d snap if you sneezed too hard.
Here’s the kicker. He starts talking about their store credit card. “You can get it today, and we have special financing!” he says, all chipper. For a necklace that was, what, a hundred and fifty bucks? I just stared at him. Special financing? Are people really financing everyday little gifts like that? Seemed nuts to me. I just wanted to buy a small gift, not take out a mortgage on it.
I told him I’d think about it. He handed me his card, told me to ask for him if I came back. Real smooth. I walked out of there empty-handed. Felt like I’d wasted a good half hour.
It’s funny, you go into these big name stores thinking it’ll be easy, straightforward. They’ve got the reputation, right? But sometimes it feels like they’re just pushing the expensive stuff or trying to rope you into a credit plan. Whatever happened to just selling a decent product at a fair price without all the song and dance?
I ended up finding a nice little necklace at a smaller, local shop a few days later. Cost less, and the lady there didn’t try to sell me a payment plan. Just a thought. Maybe those big shiny stores aren’t always the best bet for simple stuff. Just my two cents from my trip to Kay’s over in Des Moines.
