Edmonton Jewellery Shopping and Repair Guide: Part Two
Let’s step away from jewellery for a minute and talk about food. When you think of a food court in a mall, that thought probably isn’t synonymous with quality, or good value. When you are buying food in a malls food court, what you are getting is something quick and cheap, two qualities you probably don’t want your piece of jewellery to share. While we’re on the topic of food, even though it’s “cheap” an average meal is still going to cost you somewhere around $10 and what you’re getting probably won’t be the last word in taste, or quality and won’t be very good for you. If you were to take that same $10 and spend it at an independent’s deli sandwich shop, you could very easily get something tasty and much better for you. Of course, we can excuse eating in a food court because we eat many meals a day and sometimes you just need to eat something and you have little options, but you don’t buy jewellery everyday.
Back on the topic of jewellery, just like a fast food joint in a mall food court, mall jewellers are cornered into focusing on items that are easily accessible and cheap. Being in a mall is expensive, and with gold and silver prices being much higher than what the market can handle, the cost of jewellery is at a relative high. So in order to give the average mall client what they want at the price they want, most stores have focused on finding ways of using less material and making use of lower quality gems, ultimately giving you something that is built worse and has gems that don’t sparkle as they should. I’m not saying that this is true in all jewellery stores and for every item in those stores, but again if you take the comparison of the deli sandwich shop into perspective, you can probably find something better for the same price somewhere else.
You don’t buy jewellery everyday, so take your time and find the right piece.