Krombholz Jewelers has been a Cincinnati, Ohio, institution for more than 80 years. In 1940, Herb and Mallie Krombholz took the big risk and decided to open a jewelry store near downtown Cincinnati. Eight decades later, the grandson of a third-generation goldsmith is about to take yet another risk by going all in on estate jewelry.
The transition from a traditional custom and finished jewelry store won’t be official until September 1. But store owner and third generation jeweler Lee Krombholz has already renamed the family business Krombholz Vintage. Lee is anxious and ready for some change.
“I have not talked to a lot of colleagues, and I am not sure many of them would understand why I am doing this,” says Lee. “To define this further, I have been working 80 hours a week for 25 years trying to keep up with the custom work. This has been profitable, but tiring. The estate jewelry business will be more controllable and adaptable over the next handful of years. I am hoping to create a 40 hour or less work week.”
Krombholz Jewelers is no stranger to estate jewelry. Back in the 1970s, Lee’s father purchased estate jewelry over the counter and sold it to a family friend who was an antique dealer. The arrangement was profitable and risk free. At that time, however, there was no estate jewelry displayed and sold in their cases. “That would come later,” says Lee.
In the 1980s, Lee started attending more Conclaves organized by the American Gem
Society (AGS). Speakers at the time presented on the history of jewelry. “That really interested me,” says Lee. “I started reading every book on antique jewelry I could find and began to do presentations to local women’s clubs and historical societies.”
For that decade and beyond, estate jewelry sales hovered around the 10 percent mark of sales and inventory. All that changed in 2008 with the housing market crash and the height of the Great Recession.
“The year [2008] started out great so we bought our inventory on credit for the fall,” says Lee. “Then everything collapsed and we were left with inventory that did not sell and debt we needed to pay. So, in 2009, I decided to solicit our clients to consign us their unwanted jewelry. This was a big hit and our estate jewelry business began to boom.”
Since that time Krombholz’s estate jewelry business has steadily grown. Highs in gold spot prices helped bring in customers eager to cash in or trade in. And, given the store’s lengthy history of buying from the public, Krombholz has gained a reputation for being “honest and reliable,” according to Lee. But in recent years the estate jewelry business has become the store’s main profit center.
For Lee and his staff, buying and selling estate jewelry is more than finding a new home for old treasures while increasing gross profits for the store. It’s also about issues affecting the diamond market. “With the major changes in the diamond market, which I feel will only get worse, I have enjoyed offering a ‘real’ alternative to lab-grown diamonds with estate diamonds. It just feels better to me.”
Buying and selling estate jewelry, however, is a tricky business. Scams, fakes and heightened expectations are profit killers. For Lee and his staff (mainly family members) buying and selling estate and antique jewelry is a team effort.
Lee has been at it for 40 years. He’s currently imparting that wisdom and experience to his daughter. But on the job training can only do so much. Lee plans additional training, mainly gemological, for his daughter with curriculum from the AGS and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
A lengthy history and industry training have their merits, but there’s much to be said for sourcing sound goods and managing expectations about what’s being bought and sold. For the sake of quality control and profitability, Lee and his staff have sourced much of the estate and antique jewelry on their own. Lee has a friend and dealer he works with that is a good complement to the inventory he has sourced. Just as important is not chasing after unicorn pieces, estate or vintage pieces that potentially could bring in a big win.
“We specifically focus on wearable jewelry,” says Lee. “We do not search for jewelry that we do not understand [super high end or collectable]. If jewelry is offered to us that is out of our ‘vernacular,’ we send it to a dealer that is better equipped. We once were offered a ring worn by Liberace, but the seller was not able to verify this.”
The progression of estate and antique jewelry for Krombholz shows great promise for the big move coming on September 1. Related store events have been very successful for Lee and his staff and they’re creating enthusiasts in their market, most notable is Lorraine Gibbs – a customer whose love of estate and antique jewelry is so impassioned Lee mentioned her in his press release of July 1, 2024, about his store’s major announcement.
“Lorraine is an antique lover as well as a jewelry lover,” says Lee. “She has a very high level of understanding of antique jewelry that she has developed over the years from us and other dealers. She puts in the time to learn as much as she can ongoing. And yes, she is evangelical with her fellow jewelry lovers about our store and events.”
The Lorraines of the world are a Godsend to retail jewelers, but there is always converting (and educating) that needs to be done – especially when going all in on estate and antique jewelry. For now, Lee and his staff have sent letters to all 4,100 people in the store’s database about the September 1 change to address the many “whys” from customers. And, in August there will be a month-long sales event.
“We are having a month-long progressive sale in August selling mostly our new inventory,” says Lee. “After that sale, we will return any memo inventory. Our physical store space is currently split between the shop, office, jewelry showroom and a needlepoint store that my wife and daughter operate in the back. We are going to reconfigure that space so that the customer that arrives will know something is different.”
And, with Christmas coming up: “We will be hosting a couple of events to get our undecided estate jewelry buyers back in.”
