Last week, Rachel and I were on our way back to our office in downtown Hollywood (FL) when we passed a Jewelry Pawn Shop.

Naturally, we stopped to look at the huge display of rings in the window. Each of them sat alone on its own little piece of white paper with the price hand-printed in red ink. A few of the prices were crossed out to look as if they’d been marked down. It was … tacky.

Maybe that was on purpose, perhaps to make it look like a yard sale, a bargain hunter’s paradise.
But I wondered if the rings would attract more attention, favorable attention, if they’d been cleaned and displayed in traditional black velvet trays lit from above. “Classy,” as Fran Drescher might say.

I’m not sure, are you?

I am sure that when I walk past Van Cleef & Arpels’ window or Tiffany’s or Cartier’s (they’re all close to each other on 5th Avenue), I want to buy everything.

Maybe it’s not fair to expect a pawn shop window to look like Van Cleef & Arpels’. But couldn’t the pawnbroker at least make an effort?
I used to be 100% certain that display – presentation – matters.
I’m just wondering if the sloppy look in the jewelry pawn shop window is deliberate to make me think there’s a bargain for me.
I do know that I had a meeting this week with a woman who appeared sloppy to me (jeans and messy hair). I kept thinking her business was probably in the same disarray. Do you agree? Let me know.

All the best,

Lois K. Geller