Alchemy Voted America's Coolest Small Store 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 28, 2014

Alchemy has been named one of America’s Coolest Jewelry Stores by INSTORE, the magazine for the American jewelry store owner. The Portland business took first place in the Small Cool division for stores with five or fewer employees. A total of 126 stores entered the 13th annual contest that highlights the best examples of independent jewelry retailers in North America.

“Every year we feel privileged to bring our readers the best of the best in our industry,” said Ralf Kircher, INSTORE’s executive editor. “From its wholly unique interior design to its magical custom transformations befitting its name, Alchemy easily falls into that category. But a store wouldn’t really fit our ‘cool’ criteria if it weren’t for such aspects as innovative marketing and creative retail environment.” Stores are judged in exterior appearance, interior appearance, store biography, advertising, website and overall individuality.

The top five winners in the two divisions are given trophies and featured in the August issue of INSTORE and at instoremag.com. Honorable Mention stores are featured as monthly Cool Stores in issues of INSTORE from September 2014 through June 2015.

For more information, e-mail Ralf Kircher: ralf@smartworkmedia.com

Read the full article at Instore Magazine HERE

Preliminary judging process:

– Entries are split into two divisions: Small Cool for stores with 5 or fewer full-time employees; and Big Cool for stores with 6 or more

– Entries are made into mini websites, one for each store, at www.americascooleststores.com

– Five editors spent an average of nine hours each examining all entries

– Entries are rated on a scale of 0-100 in six categories: story, exterior appearance, interior appearance, advertising and marketing, website and overall individuality

– Total scores were calculated weighting the categories according to importance: story 50 percent, exterior 75 percent, interior 100 percent, advertising 50 percent, website 25 percent and individuality 100 percent.

– Out of this first round come 20 finalists in each division

– Websites of the top stores, listed in alphabetical order, are released to our two panels of 6 industry-expert judges

Final judging process:

– Judges rate each store on a scale of 0-100 in the same six categories

– The top 5 stores in each category are calculated

– The top 5 list in each category is returned to the relevant judges

– Judges provide their comments on each of the winning stores in their respective categories