Jewelry

With big expansion, Molinelli's continues to bring quality jewelry to Old Town Pocatello - Idaho State Journal

American Christmas traditions include decorating trees, singing carols, mailing greeting cards, exchanging gifts — and getting engaged. According to owner Lance Buttars, Molinelli's Jewelers sells more bridal sets in December than any other month.

“Fortunately, in the U.S., you have to get engaged with a diamond; not a gourd or three sheep,” Buttars said with a laugh. “It's a tradition that means Molinelli's will be relevant as long as that is a traditional thing.”

But Buttars said buying jewelry can be an intimidating experience because it's a big monetary and sentimental investment into something that not many people know much about. That's why Buttars says having a trusted jeweler is as important as finding a family doctor or lawyer. Often pieces of jewelry, like a bridal set or anniversary ring, are worn for a lifetime or embedded with deep meaning and handed down from one generation to the next.

“Jewelry has become an outward expression of how we feel,” Buttars said. “It's something that will keep saying what we wanted it to say long after Christmas is done.”

Molinelli's is reputation is long-standing. It is Idaho's oldest independent jewelry store to maintain its original company name. It has weathered the economies of World War I, The Great Depression, World War II, the 1980s' Pocatello Bucyrus-Erie downturn, and the Great Recession of 2008. Whereas, many downtown Pocatello businesses have struggled to endure, Molinelli's normally turns a big profit and in 2014 Buttars completed a two-year, $1.2 million remodeling and expansion project. Buttars credits Molinelli's longevity and success to it's quality of service and ability to adapt with the times.

“People questioned why we would invest so much in a store in Old Town Pocatello.” Buttars said. “We have been here for 114 years now. This is where people look for us. … It is now a destination place. ... It's our home, and it's been good to us.”

In 114 years, Molinelli's has only been owned by four owners within two families. Each owner subsequently learned the trade, starting at a young age, from the previous one — a rare hearkening back to master craftsmanship. Founder Leon F. Molinelli spent many years apprenticing in the industry in Denver and Salt Lake City before he started selling jewelry on the streets of Pocatello in 1900. Molinelli opened his first store in 1903. Molinelli's has had four Old Town locations and been at its current 126 N. Main St. location for nearly 45 years — a location previously shared by the Knights Pythias, the Bannock National Bank, Idaho Power and the Ku Klux Klan.

Leon eventually sold the business to his son, Lambert “Bud” Molinelli. Jack Clark began working for Bud when he was 14 and bought the store in 1973. At 15, Lance Buttars started working for Jack as a delivery boy, janitor and small appliance repairman. Not only would Buttars one day become Jack's successor, but his son-in-law as well. Through observation and hours practice on discarded pieces on his days off, Buttars became Molinelli's goldsmith by age 17.

Until 2005, when he bought Molinelli's himself, Buttars worked as Molinelli's goldsmith and then ran his own shop called Benchcraft in Molinelli's basement. He did goldsmithing for many of the local jewelry stores that would normally have to send the work out. His clientele eventually included 26 stores from as far away as Alaska, Wyoming and Wisconsin.

“Goldsmithing is not a common trade and hard to find,” Buttars said. “There are schools, but the best training is within a trade shop itself. My business grew because I always made happen what jewelers told clients they could do. Managers want people who find solutions and that's what we did.”

Doing work for other stores gave Buttars valuable insight into their business models — what sold, what they couldn't provide and their sales tactics. Buttars said that chain stores often gain sales not by reputation and quality, but by making people feel good about buying something on a huge sale. The inflated “original” prices are often prices at which no customer has ever actually purchased the product.

“Since I worked for them, I knew what their margins were and knew what discounts their employees could do. Their discounts are actually where they should have started. As an independent, we don't have those giant mark-ups nor giant huge sales. But when we do have a sale, it is truly half off the price. ... We often lose money when we have a sale.”

Buttars also noticed that most stores sold diamonds already set in mounts which didn't allow customers to thoroughly analyze the quality of the individual diamonds. Once or twice a year, Buttars travels to Antwerp, Belgium, the largest diamond market in the world, to hand-pick diamonds for customers.

“Most of the diamonds in the world are cut to make money for the cutters or jewelers,” Buttars said. “The cuts are either deep or shallow. An ideal cut requires much more work to get maximum brilliance and beauty.”

Molinelli's bridal sets are mounted with cubic zirconias so that customers can pick the style of ring first and then spend time shopping for a quality diamond afterward. Buttars admits that customers can buy cheaper diamonds online, but says customers often forsake service, recourse for problems, warranties, discounts on other bridal services such as catering.

Buttars said that integrity in the jewelry business is always most questionable with repairs. Jewelers who have to send their jewelry out to goldsmiths pass the cost on to customers and risk having pieces damaged or lost or stones switched. Molinelli's in-house goldsmiths photograph and inspect every piece before they do any work.

The jewelry business competes with industries such as technology and automotive for consumer’s disposable dollars. To attract customers ranging from age 18 to 80, Buttars has expanded Molinelli's advertising to social media, TV, radio, restaurants and electronic billboards. Buttars also invested in the remodel that will house higher-end brands and compares to the look of stores seen in California or New York.

“There were a lot of high-end professionals who were shopping out of town because they didn't think they could find what they wanted in Pocatello,” Buttars said. “They, too, want the convenience of having service close to home.”

Though Buttars does not plan on retiring any time soon and does not have children interested in taking over the business, he says that when he does, he will look to sell in-house first to keep the standards of quality and the name Molinelli's synonymous. In fact, Buttars will stipulate that the name continue in the contract.

“Molinelli's is one of Pocatello's oldest business entities,” Buttars said. “That's why I always try to support worthy group causes in Pocatello. I felt like I owed it to the community because we are still here, where a lot of jewelers aren't.”