Fred Weber, owner of Weber Jewelers, at his store on Far Hills Ave. in Kettering

 

Style Observations by Vicki Bernie, The Dayton Jewish Observer, March 2010

Vicki Bernie

With the right combination of experience and a loyal clientele, Weber Jewelers is a luxury business that is still thriving in this economy. Fred Weber, owner, certainly has the savvy, having been in the jewelry business for 55 years. Growing up in Gastonia, N. C., Weber went to Ohio State and also spent time in the Air Force before getting married and coming to Dayton in 1955.

Beginning his career at Mayor Jewelers, which he eventually bought and sold; along the way, he began the business that he still owns and operates today.

“The jewelry business is surprisingly good,” Weber says. “In general, people are buying products at a lot lower price point because of their reduced expendable income, but fortunately we haven’t been hit too hard with that phenomenon. We have been selling a lot more silver than gold.”

Fred says the trend in jewelry will continue to be more silver and less gold, with gold valued at more than $1,000 an ounce.

“I think the public is being redirected by what they read and see,” Fred says. “There is a difficulty in getting distribution channels to buy more expensive materials, so the marketplace is offering larger selections of lesser expensive materials and products. I don’t think that is unique to the jewelry business. I would say to you that blue jeans cost less than two years ago. Not designer jeans — the designer stuff is still expensive relative to a comparable product of the same quality standards but without a title or name.”

One way that Fred has dealt with this situation is by choosing designers who don’t spend money on national advertising and are “every bit as fine and fashionable as the designer brands but much less expensive. We’re not real strong on branded stuff, we’re more toward value — that’s who we are.”

One trend customers will find at Weber Jewelers is Pandora. This is a line in which the consumers create and build their own jewelry. Bracelets and jewelry can start as low as $25. Customers can have beauty and quality with materials such as leather, gold, silver, murano glass, etc.

Fred and his jewelers maintain a full line jewelry operation. In addition to the retail space, the site includes a 1,500-square-foot studio where they design jewelry.

“By definition it’s not a good diamond if it doesn’t sparkle,” Fred says. “One of the most important factors of the quality of diamonds is what man adds to the raw material.

Diamond cutting is the artistic part. Man places the facets on the raw material generating its sparkle. The same applies to colored gemstones.”

As a member of the American Gem Society Laboratories as well as the Gemological Institute of America, Fred explains that these types of independent diamond graders are dependable and work for the consumer. Because of the Internet, there is a lot more information for the consumer. Buying diamonds is much less intimidating.

The best way to differentiate among diamond graders, he says, is to choose the ones that are not for profit. “Then you know that they are working for the consumer.” This is not necessarily the case for colored gemstones, he adds, as there are far too many factors in being able to grade them: many thousands of hues and hints of hues make very significant differences in value.

When he’s not wearing his jeweler’s hat, Fred wears many others, including husband to Judy, father and stepfather, and has held civic and political titles as well.

“You’re making me think of things that I haven’t thought of in years.” Fred smiles as he reminisces about his time as a city commissioner, member of John Glenn’s senate campaign and Dick Celeste’s campaign for governor. Other memberships included the Downtown Dayton Association and South of Third St. Association. He is a past chair of CityWide Corporation and says his “most significant” civic activity was serving as chairman of Miami Valley Hospital and Premier Health Partners over a span of 18 years. Fred is a past director and an active member of the Dayton Foundation; he is also on the City of Dayton Revenue/Budget Committee.