Voice on the High Street: Judith Hart

Name: Judith Hart Jewellers

Location: Derby

Year established: 1980

Number of staff: 66

Website: www.judithhartjewellers.co.uk

How was Judith Hart Jewellers founded?

It was established in 1980 by myself and two other members of staff. I had worked locally starting as a Saturday girl and over three years progressed to manager. I worked full-time and took the NAG jewellers diploma by post, there was no online back then, and studied for my FGA at college in the evenings. I just wanted to do things my way and took out a loan guaranteed by my parents to fit out the store and buy stock. I made a profit in my first year and repaid the loan after three-and-a-half years. Carol was the third person to join my fledgling business and is now my great friend and general manager for all stores. She has shared all the trials and tribulations over the years and deserves as much credit for the success of this business as I do.

You are located in the intu Derby shopping centre, does that have benefits over the traditional high street location?

My bank manager suggested the first unit which was located in a secondary position in the main Derby shopping centre. It felt safer and did not suffer from the vagaries of weather so seemed like a good idea. The business stayed in that unit until 2007 when the centre was extended and we took a lovely larger unit. The two previous years were difficult as we desperately needed larger premises but I decided to wait for the new centre to be built and it was definitely worth it.

What influence has Pandora had on the business?

As one of the first supporters of Pandora we had one counter in our new store. Pandora was phenomenal and the first Christmas we had seven members of staff all selling Pandora and we just could not get anything else out to sell. Solution – one of the early concept stores which was a huge success from day one. Learning from this trend I acquired other brands and took the lease on the unit next door in 2010 when I opened a multi-brand boutique which is now extremely popular and introduces us to a much younger clientele.

You recently celebrated 35 years in business, tell us about that.

I never ever thought I would be that old. We invited 400 selected guests to a November Winter Wonderland event at the iPro Stadium in Derby. We actually had over 470 people attend which was a surprise on the night as many people decided to bring more friends. We did not mind as we made many introductions and new customers. Snow machines when you arrived, fashion shows throughout the evening, carol singers to get you in the Christmas spirit, a harpist for gentle ambience, makeup, hair and nail demonstrations, wonderful decorations, trees and snow with a free bar. It was an amazing success with incredible support from our top suppliers.

How important is e-commerce for the company?

We have an e-commerce site as I decided early that if we were going to spend on a site that it might as well work in different ways for us. The amount of business is growing but it is still a small proportion of the business we do.  

What does the future hold for Judith Hart?

I am not ready to retire yet so the sky’s the limit. I have at least two ideas that will result in expansion for us and just to tease a little at least one of these will be launched this year as plans are already progressing. I love this business and I’m always looking for solutions that challenge the conventional, this probably takes me right back to 1980 when female managers were rare and it was unheard of that a young woman in her early twenties would consider opening her own store.