The Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA) brought its membership together for camaraderie and education at its inaugural industry summit, which tackled topics from employee turnover to store safety to lab-grown diamonds.
The summit provided the opportunity for members to network and for the CJA to honor them for supporting one another, according to organizers. “We set the bar high,” says Angela Betteridge, CJA chair and owner of Angela Betteridge Jewellery in Kelowna, British Columbia. “For the first one of its kind, we think it was a tremendous success. It was all about connecting, learning, and celebrating.”
More than 100 industry professionals attended the daylong event on Oct. 23 in Vancouver. The summit included the CJA’s annual general meeting, four keynote speakers, a retail industry panel, and an awards dinner. In addition to Betteridge, organizers included CJA membership coordinator Alanna Campbell and office manager Carla Adams.
At the summit, Abe Sherman of Buyers Intelligence Group gave a keynote speech about turnover myths and how to increase sales and revenues. Other keynoters were Kelly Ross of Jewellers Vigilance Canada, who spoke about working with the police and public to reduce store crime, and Craig Paterson of Retail Insider Media, who addressed challenges facing large department stores. Betteridge says the crowd especially enjoyed hearing from keynote speaker Ivete Stephanopoulos of the De Beers Group about her company’s efforts to track diamonds’ origins from rough to the bench to the store. “It really gave people a sense of what they’re doing,” says Betteridge.
On the subject of diamond origin tracing, Betteridge notes: “Canada was the first to do it, and do it really well. But we’ve drifted away from [telling that story] in recent years—that’s one of our initiatives in 2024…. We’re proud of our Canadian diamond industry, as we should be. We should be less humble about it.”
At the dinner, the CJA presented four awards: to Justin Opert of Sorbet Sapphire for Volunteer of the Year; to Mitton’s Jewelers of Ridgetown, Ontario, for Retailer of the Year; to Courtney Gold of Vancouver, Supplier of the Year; and the Erol Paylan Lifetime Achievement Award to Adom Knadjian, who recently retired as president of B&S Canada.
The CJA’s second summit will take place in late 2024 in Toronto, Betteridge says. “Everyone after the awards and dinner was asking, ‘When’s the next one?’ That is always heartwarming to hear because it means you did a great job, and we knew we had,” she says. “It will be even more grand next year.”
Top: Over 100 retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers attended the Canadian Jewellers Association’s first annual industry summit this fall. (Photos courtesy of the CJA)
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