Jamies Jewellers is believed to be the longest consecutive family-owned and operated jewellery business operating in New Zealand. Pam Jones talks to fifth-generation owners Rachel and Clyde Vellacott.
Being the fifth generation to run a family business in its 150th year is a proud milestone, but responsibility accompanies the privilege.
"There's a lot of pressure to maintain the business and a real responsibility to keep it going,'' Jamies Jewellers manager and part owner Rachel Vellacott says.
"You don't want to be the person to get it wrong.''
But Mrs Vellacott and her husband, Clyde Vellacott, are thriving on running the Alexandra business, having moved there two years ago from London, where the couple were co-owners of a digital design agency for 13 years.
A founding member of the Australasian Nationwide Jewellers group, Jamies Jewellers was believed to be the longest consecutive family owned and operated jewellery business operating in New Zealand, Mrs Vellacott said.
Mrs Vellacott's great-great-grandfather, John Jamie the first, of Glasgow, arrived in New Zealand in 1865, having possibly been in Australia before that.
The first record of him operating as a watchmaker in New Zealand is an 1866 court notice from the Papers Past website, reporting the theft of "a bag containing a set of watchmaker's tools, a watch, portions of watches, and other articles'' from John Jamie, who was a boarder at the Caledonian Hotel, in Dunedin.
It was thought John Jamie first began trading as an itinerant watchmaker, with other paper records supporting the 1866 start of business and an 1867 newspaper advertisement announcing Jamies Jewellers in Balclutha, Mrs Vellacott said.
Four generations later, family members were proud to be celebrating the 150th year of Jamies Jewellers and moving firmly with the times, she said.
Mrs Vellacott's mother, Paula Lovering, who was the fourth generation of the family to run the business, is still a part-owner of Jamies and continues to work practically full-time from home doing appraisals and valuations for both Jamies and other Nationwide Jewellers clients.
Having taken over the family business from her mother, Mrs Lovering said there was no "secret'' to surviving in business for 150 years, other than hard work, a commitment to excellence and a determination to keep learning.
Intellectual stimulation when in business was vital, and Mrs Lovering had immersed herself in gemology and diamonds, becoming a fully trained gemologist and diamond grader.
Now Mrs Vellacott is also studying diamond qualifications, and putting her own stamp on the store.
"I'm over the moon that she has taken it over, and I know my mother would be, too,'' Mrs Lovering said.
John Jamie the first was thought to have had "mixed fortunes'' in business, owning a variety of stores in Southland and South Otago and occasionally going bankrupt and opening a store in another town, Mrs Lovering said.
The business was taken over by his son, John Jamie the second, and then his son, John Jamie the third, who was Mrs Lovering's father and opened the Alexandra store in 1916.
But the women in the family had been significant influences on the business, Mrs Lovering said.
"The men tended to die young and the women took over,'' although the women were not always being acknowledged by society for their role, she said.
The wives of all three John Jamies had continued running the business after their husbands died young, including Mrs Lovering's mother, Joyce Jamie, who became an "institution'' in Alexandra.
The Alexandra Jamies Jewellers shop was originally a large, wooden building that also included a hairdresser, beauty salon, tobacconist, optician, lending library and billiards room, reflecting the trend and need of retailers in those days to "be able to do a bit of everything'', Mrs Lovering said.
That building burned down in 1949 and was rebuilt in 1950, the back section being sold and the front section remodelled into what is the Jamies Jewellers site today.
A significant element of John and Joyce Jamie's business was the import licences they held.
They first brought in watches, diamonds and jewellery after World War 2 to satisfy the "crazy'' desire of people for "beautiful things'' that had been difficult to obtain during the war, and later Joyce Jamie imported china and glassware.
Mrs Lovering said she was grateful to have her mother's support and advice when she took over the business in the 1970s, although her mother did not approve of one of Mrs Lovering's first moves.
When Mrs Lovering held the first Jamies Jewellers sale - one of the first sales in a jewellery store - Joyce Jamie told her daughter it "wasn't the done thing and no-one had jewellery sales and it would "downgrade' the store''.
Of course these days sales were common in stores, and new trends in jewellery were appearing.
There would always be a market for precious stones and diamonds and family heirlooms, and special pieces needed to be classical so they didn't date, Mrs Lovering said.
But the advent of "fashion jewellery'' allowed buyers (and sellers) to be more adventurous and "have some fun''.
Mrs Vellacott said it was important to diversify when in business in a small town, and she was enjoying bringing in different brands, always catering for different price points.
It was also vital to have an online presence, and Jamies Jewellers' website, developed last year, was growing in popularity.
A firm trend these days was for "fashion focused'' brands, such as Kagi and Karen Walker, Mrs Vellacott said.
There was a time when people only owned jewellery they wore regularly or all of the time, but now people had fun buying and mixing together additional fresh, "fashion'' pieces as well.
Mrs Vellacott said she also enjoyed continuing the family business trips through Nationwide Jewellers to Antwerp, Belgium, to buy diamonds.
On her last trip there, last year, she met diamond master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky, of the world-famous Tolkowsky dynasty, and bought a heart-shaped diamond he had cut.
Both Mrs Vellacott and Mrs Lovering said the jewellery business was a happy, "feel good'' business to be part of.
"People usually come and buy jewellery because they're happy. It's usually a fun thing and you are sharing people's nice moments,'' Mrs Vellacott said.
"You're often party to a very special time in people's lives,'' Mrs Lovering said.
"Sometimes when people are buying engagement rings you're even the first person to know after the couple, because they haven't told their family yet. It's just lovely to be a party to a very special time in their lives.''
● Mrs Vellacott said G & T Young Jewellers opened in Dunedin in 1862 and closed in 2009.
She said Peterson's Jewellers, in Christchurch, opened in 1863 and was still in operation, but had not had consecutive family ownership.
The nationwide Partridges does have consecutive family ownership, and says it celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2014, but its website says it was established in New Zealand in 1874, 142 years ago.
A Partridges spokesman said the 150 years began from 1864, when the business started operating under the Partridges name in England.
Mrs Vellacott believes her family business is New Zealand's oldest consecutive family owned and operated jewellery business, with paperwork proving John Jamie started in business in 1866 and it now having fifth-generation owners.
