2008.12.08
Fink's expands its jewelry enterprise online
A Roanoke-based jewelry retailer is selling its merchandise online.
Fink’s Jewelers launched an online shopping Web site last month. The jeweler decided that it was time to make much of its selection available on the Internet, following the ever growing trends in online commerce, said Lindsey Kirby, a spokeswoman for Fink’s.
“If we didn’t go ahead and do it, we would be left behind,” she told me today.
Still, the online move by Fink’s isn’t typical for all independent jewelers. Some jewelry manufacturers put restrictions on whether merchandise can be sold via the Internet, Kirby said.
For that reason, Fink’s is not making everything in its stores available on its Web site, including watches, she said. But the selection still is sizable, from colored gem earrings to diamond engagement rings.
To shop, you must create a username and password on the company's Web site. Online orders can be shipped to your home or picked up in Fink's stores. And Fink’s offers free shipping for standard deliveries.
That's not only a holiday special. It will be available all of the time, Kirby said.
Processing for online orders takes place at Fink's Roanoke headquarters, where Denise Stanley, the jeweler's e-commerce manager, runs the operation.
Fink’s has 14 stores in Virginia and North Carolina.
