OPENING a jewellery store was never Fiona and Bruce MacKay’s intention.
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Last month, the husband and wife duo celebrated Mackay’s Leading Edge Jewellers’ 35th anniversary.
Fiona was a teacher and Bruce was a qualified watch maker when they first opened the store.
He was employed at a jewellery store in Warracknabeal, but the drought made business slow. It was around this time, when Bruce decided “to give it a crack” on his own.
Bruce’s aspiration was not in the jewellery industry. His only intention was to repair watches, but over time the store stocked a small range of watches and “it snowballed from there”.
The business first opened in McLachlan Street, but after two years they outgrew the space. From there, the business moved to the current location of Horsham Undercover on Firebrace Street.
About seven years later, Mackay’s Leading Edge Jewellers relocated to its current store at 41 Firebrace Street.
The young, ambitious couple, “naturally wanted to expand the business”. The pair opened a Portland store in 2002 and another in Ararat in 2008. The Portland shop has since closed, but their store in Ararat is still going strong.
Fiona said there has been “mammoth changes” to the retail industry – the biggest being online shopping, which is a challenge for most regional towns.
“I think the challenge for a regional town like Horsham is the future. When people like Bruce and I retire there’s no incentive for young people to move into retail because people use their disposable income online,” she said. “We have noticed in our leading edge group that the older members are disappearing quickly and there’s no young people to take over.
“The community need to realise that buying online is ruining country towns. Businesses will close when they have done their time and no one will buy them because they aren’t profitable.
“While buying online is natural, people need to stop and think.”
In recent years, Bruce said he noticed a return of romance to the industry.
“About 20 years ago men would come in with their partner on a Friday night because they were too afraid to pick out jewellery by themselves,” he said.
“Now, we are getting about 95 per cent of our diamond rings sold to men coming in by themselves.
“Technology has played a big part in that. The men know what they want and that research is invaluable. It is good working with the guys like that.”
We are dealing with emotional products that we hope people can have for the rest of their lives.
- Bruce Mackay
Bruce said that jewellery was an emotional product and it was a great industry to work in for such a long time.
“We are dealing with emotional products that we hope people can have for the rest of their lives,” he said. “The gratification is in people appreciating our jeweller, Shane, which happens weekly.
“People get so emotional – even cry – because we restored a piece of jewellery back to its original state.”
The Mackays’ said the longevity of their career, in the business together, was a highlight.
“To get to 35 years together and having our son and daughter involved in the business is a high point for us,” they said.
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