Kay Jewelers: Who Are They?
If you have been to any number of malls throughout the United States you are probably somewhat familiar with Kay Jewelers. This is a mall jewelry store that offers all of the high quality items that many people are looking for, but the stores offer a wide range in items, allowing for those on a budget to purchase beautiful jewelry pieces, too. Kay Jewelry is sort of synonymous with their “Every Kiss Begins with Kay” promotional slogan that is most often used and heard during the holiday season and around Mother’s Day.
More about Kay Jewelers
Kay Jewelers is actually part of a larger company that is known as Sterling Jewelers Inc. Sterling Jewelers Inc. was founded in 1906 by a man named Henry Shaw. Today the company is run by Jerry Shaw, who is the son of Henry Shaw and the original founder. The first store was opened in Cleveland, Ohio with another store opening in Akron, Ohio in 1910. Sterling Jewelers Inc. is actually the largest fine jeweler in the United States and has more than 1,383 stores in 50 different states as of late 2007.
Kay Jewelry is the main brand of Sterling Jewelers Inc. This portion of the company was created in 1916 in Reading, Pennsylvania by two brothers by the names of Sol and Edmund Kaufman. Today there are 861 Kay Jewelers stores. While the stores started out in the corner of the Kaufman brothers’ furniture store, today the stores are predominately found in malls. However, in recent years the stores have been opening in shopping center strips in neighborhoods.
While Kay Jewelry stores all offer the same basic pieces and collections such as LeVian, Sea Magic by Mikimoto, and the Leo Diamond, all of the stores will have unique items and collections as well. What this means is that if you visit one Kay Jewelers you may not find anything that fits your needs exactly, but if you visit another you may find exactly what you have been looking for.
Many people don’t consider Kay Jewelers to be one of the predominate players in the jewelry industry, but they would be wrong. Kay Jewelry is some of the most popular because they have been around for a long time, they are located in convenient places, and they offer diverse and often affordable collections that appeal to the masses. In short, Kay Jewelers is what many consumers are looking for when they are shopping for jewelry. While Kay Jewelers is the main brand of Sterling Jewelers Inc., these stores offer something different than all of the company’s many other brands such as Jared the Galleria of Jewelry and JB Robinson Jewelers.
Tags: Kay Jewelers
December 18th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Actually Jerry Shaw is lifetime Chairman Emeritus of Sterling Inc, the company is run by Mark Light, CEO and is chaired by Terry Burman.
Kay has been the largest US jeweler by sales since 2004 and Jared is now the 4th largest.