For Detroit-based Motif Jewelers reaching their 40th anniversary, with Gen 2.0 already in place to propel the family business to another decade and beyond, seems to be the easy part for the Chopjian family. Getting to America’s Midwest to give the family business its start was the real challenge for the Armenian family.
The Chopjian family story begins centuries ago. Armenians have a lengthy and well-known history with traditional costume making and jewelry fabrication – both dating back thousands of years.
Fast-forward to the 20th century. As a former Soviet republic, Armenians became victims of a genocide that occurred from 1915 to 1923. The Chopjian family fled to Lebanon. Mayda and Arakel Chopjian had six children – Toros, Matios, Onnig, Jacques, Tamar, and Nayiri. Mayda worked as a seamstress and Arakel a shoemaker. In their youth the children worked as diamond setters and in a jewelry manufacturing facility.
“They always learned to work with their hands at an early age,” says grandson Arakel Eric Chopjian, director of operations for Motif Jewelers.
The Chopjian story is very much the consummate American immigrant success story. After leaving civil war torn Lebanon the family settled in Detroit in the 1970s. They only had their good names and honed skills to call their own. Self-starters and hard workers, the family started taking in any and all jewelry repairs and manufacturing.
Word got out about the Chopjian’s ambitious efforts and quick turnaround which allowed them to quickly expand their repair and manufacturing home-based business. But the early years were difficult. “They had to work in some cases 24-hour days just to make ends meet,” says Eric.
Efficiency and quality craftsmanship were always cornerstones of the family business, but the long days also meant fast results. Speed became another defining characteristic for the budding Chopjian jewelry business. So much so, that in 1983 the family opened Flash Jewelers.
“When Flash Jewelers opened in the early 1980s they had no inventory,” says Eric. “So they displayed some of Mayda’s jewelry in the cases. They also set out images of jewelry items for customers to see what was able to be produced by them. In fact their first customer Fred still shops with them to this day and he was the first customer to have a piece of jewelry made for his wife based off an image in their showcase.”
The “Fred Treatment” worked well for the Chopjian family as word spread about the manufacturing turned retailing family. After years of hardship and hard work the family caught a major break in 1989 when Motif Manufacturing (a well-known jewelry manufacturing company in the Detroit area) was acquired by the Chopjians.
Being the highest bidders for the manufacturing company that went under the hammer in auction allowed the Chopjians to quickly own additional jewelry manufacturing equipment and a number of molds. “Many of which are still used today,” says Eric.
The family respected Motif Manufacturing’s reputation. Part of the purchase agreement was the Chopjian’s ability to use the Motif name seven years after the acquisition. In the late 1990s, under the name Motif Jewelers, a mall-based store was opened.
The Chopjian family took advantage of mall locations when shopping and lifestyle centers were popular. But in the 2000s, having multiple locations had to have a strategic market coverage advantage to it.
Eventually Eric’s uncle Jacque’s store named Milford Jewelers (based in Milford) became Motif Jewelers in 2013. Eight years later, the Chopjian family built their flagship store in Taylor.
“Both locations are on opposite sides of the Detroit suburbs,” says Eric. “They cover a vast region and really don’t overlap. Milford covers the Northwest side of the Detroit suburbs. Taylor covers the south side of the Detroit suburbs. Both locations’ communities are very tight-knit and require wonderful community involvement. The involvement with community and building a lasting reputation for good quality has kept both locations successful for us.”
Market saturation is only one of the modern marketing traits that has helped Motif Jewelers become increasingly successful over the years. The family business has 24-hour access to jewelry design via their website and is active on several key social media platforms.
As traditional ways of doing business give way to technological developments, the first generation transitions to the next generation of jewelers. Mayda did much of the restringing for the retail stores throughout her life. More importantly, she was the support system that kept the family and the family business inline like the knots that give a strand of pearls its uniform beauty. And, Toros’s brother Jacques is a store manager in the Milford location.
Toros’s son Eric and daughter Jaclyn are the up-and-comers for Motif Jewelers. “My sister Jaclyn and I started at a very early age, me at 14 and Jaclyn in her early twenties,” says Eric. “At a very early age I was given responsibilities with writing checks to handling customer wedding ring sales to even handling minor construction projects within the stores. Jaclyn was always interested in design and improving the customer experience within our stores.”
The early interest also brought with it extensive educational pursuits as well as an impressive list of industry-related credentials. With Eric and Jaclyn the generational leaders of Gen 2.0, the Chopjians are pleased to see younger cousins showing interest in the family business, ensuring another milestone anniversary in 2033.
