Jeweller - October 2018

MY STORE
UNIQUE OPAL
MINE ADELAIDE
COUNTRY: Australia
NAMES: Tim Sheridan and
Steven Miles
POSITION: Co-Owners
When was the renovated space
completed?
The jewellery store on the ground level
was established 40 years ago and the
mine beneath the shop was built 35
years ago. The old owner showed us
photos of the renovation and from our
understanding, the mine space was
mainly dug out with wheelbarrows,
which nowadays you would never get
away with. We took over the business
about five and a half years ago.
Who is the target market and how did
they influence the store design?
We have a lot of tourists and mining
enthusiasts – “rockhounds” we call
them – who visit. In the school holidays
we have a lot of families and children
coming to see the space. The mine has
possibly the largest retail opal collection
in the world. We do cutting and polishing
demonstrations in the mine space so it’s
very interactive for both our visitors and
ultimately, our customers.
With the relationship between store
ambience and consumer purchasing
in mind, which features in the store
encourage sales?
Most of our customers venture
downstairs into the mine and that really
encourages sales. They can see all the
different types of Australian opals we
have on offer. The mine space is split into
Queensland boulder opal, Adamooka
and Cooper Pedy sections so customers
can identify different types of opals and
discover what they like.
What is the store design’s ‘wow factor’?
We have an opalised dinosaur from
Cooper Pedy on display. The Plesiosaur
was originally on display in Adelaide
Museum and the miner who found it
later had it in a box in his garage. When
we found out, we flew right over to check
it out. The mine space is also lined with
around $150,000 worth of opal, so that’s
an attraction. i
October 2018 Jeweller 49