William Jones IV is now president of Sissy’s Log Cabin, the third generation of his family to manage the six-store jeweler.
Jones previously served as chief operating officer of the Pine Bluff, Ark.–based company.
He takes over from Lamar McCubbin, who had served as president since 2018. McCubbin stepped down earlier this month to spend more time with his family, a statement said.
Jones’ father, Bill, remains the retailer’s CEO, and his brother Wyatt serves as manager of the Memphis, Tenn., store. Joe Cook is continuing as manager of the Jonesboro, Ark., store and vice president of management.
Sissy’s Log Cabin was founded by William’s grandmother Sissy Jones in 1970. It has five stores in Arkansas—two of which are in Little Rock, while the others are in Pine Bluff, Conway, and Jonesboro—and one in Memphis, which recently relocated.
Sissy’s will open a seventh location, in Fort Smith, Ark., this fall, and another Arkansas opening is slated for next year, in conjunction with a local casino. The ultimate plan is to have 16 stores, Jones says.
As president, Jones intends to focus on the company’s staff.
“We have over 135 employees,” he tells JCK. “We’ve grown from eight people to where we are now. And we had grown so fast, the piece that we lost is being able to hold everyone together, and getting everyone aligned with our goals.
“We want to get back to our original model, where the individual really mattered at our store, and make sure that’s felt company-wide. We want to make every employee feel they can build their own business within our business. Jewelry is all about the experience—the happier people are working here, the better the experience is for everyone.”
Sissy’s has developed the Jewelry Sales Academy, an educational program that Jones hopes other stores will use to attract new people to the industry.
“The labor market for the jewelry industry is shrinking more than any other business I’ve ever seen,” he says. “With the Jewelry Sales Academy, we want to build an ecosystem where, however long people stay at a store, they say, ‘Wow, I had a great experience and I really loved working there.'”
(Photo courtesy of Sissy’s Log Cabin)
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