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Rent-A-Diamond: It's Here!
From today's U.K. Daily Mail:
Jeweler Rachel Kerr has come up with a gem of an idea -- renting out diamonds for the day.
The 27-year-old entrepreneur has launched what is believed to be Scotland's first jewelry hire service, allowing her clients to borrow enough glitz to feel glam on that big occasion.
She unveiled her new online store www.rkjewelleryhire.com two weeks ago, and has already lent diamonds and gold worth thousands of pounds for less than the price of a piece of costume jewelry.
Miss Kerr has adopted Elizabeth Taylor's famous line 'Big Girls need Big Diamonds' as the shop's motto.
Yesterday, she said, "I've worked in jewelry shops and always thought there would be a market for something like this, particularly among brides."
"I know of a girl in London who's doing the same thing, but as far as I know, the service I provide is unique in Scotland.
"Film stars are lent jewelry for awards ceremonies all the time, so I thought regular people should be offered the same service." Prices start at GBP40 for a three-day hire of a piece worth 10 times that to GBP130 for a GBP1,600 item.
The range is not quite in the league of the GBP2 million, 157-carat diamond necklace worn by Scarlett Johansson to the 2004 Baftas, but she believes in starting small and thinking big.
"The largest piece we offer is a half-carat diamond necklace, which has already caught the eye of several brides," said Kerr, who began her online business, based in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, after plans to open a standard jewelry shop fell through.
"I drew up a business plan but soon realised we could not compete with the multiple retailers.
"So I came up with this.
"We take the items to customers to try on, then deliver them for the occasion and collect them afterwards. To start, I'm looking at four customers a week. We have to visit each client three times, so it will keep us busy."
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Interesting idea. Let's see how this develops.
