in Chicago's Financial District on the way to Sydel and Sydel, to find out why they're In Good Company with Stuller Inc.  

My name is Adam Voss.  I'm a traveler, an entertainer, and I'm a man on the move.  From the biggest cities to the smallest towns, I'm on the hunt for cool companies and what makes them so successful.  Right now, you're In Good Company.

Family owned and operated, Sydel & Sydel specializes in one of a kind fine jewelry, luxury timepieces, and rare diamonds and gemstones.  A business based on long-term relationships and great service, they've been serving the needs of the busy professional since 1978.  After meeting Jennifer and Jonathan at JCK, they invited me to check out their store in Chicago's Franklin Center.  So good to see you guys again.  Thanks for coming.  This place is awesome, the wood and the wood panel on the counter. I mean it's beautiful. Yeah a little light and bright.  This is what you guys got in Vegas? In the flesh. Wow Stuller's Ever and Ever. Enough engagement rings to pick? If you can't find something here then you have a problem.  Yeah then you shouldn't get engaged.  Yeah you shouldn't get engaged.  Okay how's it doing? Phenomenal, amazing.  It's so easy to use, you read the little tag, type it into the computer, pulls up the style, you can change the center stone shape, you can change the color of the metal, gives the customers the price and ships to us, then we give it to the customer. Stuller magic.  

Well I'd love to take a look at all this up you guys have. Absolutely I'll give you our best tour guide, my mom, our founder here. Welcome nice to meet you today thanks for having me.   I love this store it's awesome. It's really got a nice feeling, very open very airy, very bright. I love that you have men's watches.  Well you know for our market where we have a pretty strong male population, it's important that you represent them distinctly and we really pride ourselves in that.  In addition to luxury timepieces, Sydel & Sydel offer a whole host of fun accessories that cater to the male demographic.  Our men's collection includes some pretty unusual cufflinks, T-bone steaks, that's a pretty popular item. This is a very unique case of finished jewelry.  We group by color here. Color presents the real story of the minerals, different moods, different seasons, anniversaries, birth dates.  I love the way that this just flows.  Well that was our intent was to make it a comfortable arena, an easy arena to kind of linger and we represent a beautiful position in this building.

Though Sydel & Sydel is well established today, the idea first took off in the early 1970s. Mary Lou and I worked on LaSalle Street on the Financial District for eight years before we decided to go into the business.  It was our baby, we didn't have any children until about seven years into the business and my daughter who studied design makes up a good percentage of our jewelry and we have people coming in asking for her designs.  It's gorgeous.  So Jennifer these are your designs? They are.  How do you draw your inspiration? You know really from all over the place.  Unusual weird places, maybe that don't exist. The Narnias of the world? Yes. And you know there's a lot of theatrics because what you're trying to do is you're trying to pull out the inside of what a person embodies right? So you know you can maybe be an introvert but wanna feel like a queen so you put on a piece of jewelry that might reflect that. I feel confident the kids you know like they said they were raised here in the store, you know they know what they're doing.  It all relates to our integrity behind our name all these years and the person feels comfortable coming in and getting a gift from us. 

Seeing firsthand how Stuller is helping Sydel & Sydel reach their customers gave me some real insight in how unique each market is.  But it was time to test that theory and go from the Midwest into the heart of the South.  Atlanta, Georgia.  With over five and a half million people in its metropolitan area, it's one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S.  Located just north of the city in the bustling hamlet of Marietta, David Douglas Diamonds and Jewelry is a fourth-generation family-owned business.  I had the good fortune to meet Doug Meadows at JCK. Now was time to check out his shop and find out why they're In Good Company with Stuller Inc.  

Doug it is so good to see you. Hey Adam.  How was the rest of your trip at JCK? It was great, a lot of new things there and a lot of new ideas. And the space, I mean amazing. What is it, like 2500 square feet?  Yes we love it here.  How did you find your way to Atlanta?  In 1926 my grandfather started us in Detroit.   I got tired of the cold and snow and Atlanta to me was the New York of the South right. And I talked to my brother Dave into moving on down. Took Dave's name and my name, Doug, and put them together and created the David Douglas Diamonds.  You guys have kind of a 360 approach to the way you deal with jewelry design.  You do finished jewelry, bridal, you actually cast things here.  The metal line that you have back there which is independent drawers. You have a bunch of different software, you have Matrix you have CounterSketch all in the store.  I look at myself as a third-generation bench jeweler, but a first generation retailer

So Joseph you are a fourth-generation jeweler?  Fourth-generation my friend.  Been doing this since I was 13 years old, 25 now. Congratulations on your recent nuptials. Thank you thank you. This particular turning right here is my wife's engagement ring. Wow. Probably the hardest ring I've ever made. Second hardest would be my own wedding band.  

I didn't want to get left behind so you know we've incorporated into Matrix into 3D printing and ultrasonic polishers, just all all kinds of fun gadgets. I'm a technology jungle.  I love tinkering and owning the process from start to finish has been a fun thing for me to try to figure out and create.  Do you have your sales associates running CounterSketch with customers as they come in too? Definitely.  

So Nicole what am I looking at here? This is the CounterSketch program. It's a fun way to customize different ring styles.  A little different from doing a from the ground-up custom where you can kind of start with styles available through prototypes or field the website.  A lot of times what will happen is people will like one or two ring styles that we have but want something different about it.  This is perfect for those kinds of customizations.  You can just modify it to make it exactly the ring if they want.  Very cool.  

If you think about it at the end of the day all were selling is cold metal and hard rock but it's really what it represents or the story behind it that makes the difference.  Yeah and really engaging with your customers long enough to know families.  Yes and when you get a girl coming in and wanting a wedding band made that matches her mom and dad, it's like really? Am I that old? Doug it was great spending the day with you and learning your story and seeing what you do every day. It was an honor to have you guys here I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.  

From Atlanta to Chicago and all around the world, Stuller is helping make their customers heroes. Until next time you're In Good Company with a little lagniappe and a lot of Stuller Inc.