San Juan HS grad recalls struggles, success with his popular jewelry chain

By Mike Hazlip—
While growing up in Citrus Heights, business owner Kenny Gordon says he never dreamed he’d end up starting a jewelry store in town.

Gordon, the owner of Kenny G & Company Fine Jewelers, shared a few secrets — and struggles — of his jewelry business venture with a group of about 50 community and business leaders at a luncheon at the Citrus Heights Community Center on Tuesday, honing in on how to make it through tough economic times.

Gordon recounted the successes and challenges his business has faced in the last quarter century at the luncheon held by the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce. Originally prepared with a written speech, Gordon said he decided to ad lib his remarks at the advice of other chamber members. It was the first public speech for the businessman, he said.

“I started a career in the jewelry business I thought I’d never have,” Gordon said, noting he was focused on sports at the time.

“I walked into a jewelry store and the guy asked me to give him at least three months, and it turned my life around,” said Gordon. “I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed working with the public, and that has been the backbone of our company.”

Eventually, Gordon found himself working for a company that he says was reluctant to allow customers to order anything under $300. When he opened his first jewelry store in Citrus Heights in 1997, he said a key principle was to allow any customer to purchase anything.

That first store was in Birdcage, and Gordon had ambitions to grow to a total of 10 locations, opening a new store every two years. The business first had to tighten its belt in 2001, but when the Great Recession hit around 2007 the luxury goods sector saw a significant drop in sales.

Gordon said a renewed focus on his core values of customer service is what enabled his company to survive that difficult economy.

“When you go through a tough time, you learn to be as kind as you can to your employees,” he said, adding tough times are something business leaders listening to him at the event will likely go through as well. “Never come in with a negative attitude, and know that you’re going to get through and you most likely will.”

Despite being in a luxury goods industry that might seem like a tough sell during an economic downturn, Gordon said love is one thing he found that remains the same through good and bad times. He found people continued to celebrate life in hard times, making the special moments even more important.

“One thing that was still united is that people still, and always will, fall in love,” he told the audience of business owners. “The unique thing about our business is they celebrate special life memories.”

Gordon also credits keeping in touch with their customer base by calling on a daily or weekly basis during difficult times with helping his company survive through the years.

“I look back at those two instances and say ‘holy moly’, as many businesses that did collapse, we did something right,” he said.

Gordon now has four jewelry stores in his portfolio, including his Citrus Heights store at 5460 Sunrise Blvd. His Elk Grove store opened in 2001, with the Roseville store opening the following year, and his fourth store later opening in Reno, Nevada.

Using a client base he had built up from hotel chains, Gordon opened the Reno location of Kenny G in 2006, just as the area was experiencing a housing boom.

“The store took off like a rocket,” he said. But just two years later in 2008, Reno became the highest foreclosure and short sale location in the nation, he recalled.

“So I went from hero to zero, and quickly got humbled.”

However, even in that market, the jewelry chain was able to pay its obligations, and today, Gordon is proud to say the company made it through, with sales starting to rebound in 2010.

“The course of action we took to this point has made us much, much stronger,” Gordon said. “To go back and reflect who made us and who we are is still going back to customer service.”

In giving some forward-looking advice to the community members at the luncheon facing an uncertain future, Gordon said it is important to keep a focus on the business’s core values.

“Do not fall into the trap of gimmick marketing,” he said, describing sales and discounted products or services. “You cannot come back to the normal way of doing business if you do that. You lose the respect, you lose the confidence of your consumer.”

Gordon also credited his employees and his wife for the success of his business, along with a strong relationship with the Sunrise MarketPlace, community members, and police. He called the Chamber “the heartbeat of Citrus Heights.”

After more than two decades, Gordon says he still gets a sense of satisfaction from working with people.

“I come to work every day because of the people I meet and the families,” he said. “For 25 years, I’m now selling their kids and their grand kids.”