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Hearts and Arrows Diamonds
international Award Winning Master Jeweler
*Custom Designs
*Direct Diamond Importer
All work done on premises
Darold Karmazin - Owner
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Suite 108 Meridan Park * 6900 “O” Street
radiks. net/~'darolds
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dailyneb.com
Nate Wagner/DN
A QUARTET of affordable and popular wedding bands are available at Sartor
Hamaan, 1150 0 St.
Search for perfect
ring can be tough
By Samuel McKewon
Senior editor
Sartor Hamann General Manager
Bob Fixter has seen “the look” - that
glazed-over stare on the faces of hus
bands-to-be about to fork over a couple
thousand dollars for an engagement or
wedding ring.
“It kind of says, ‘I don’t want to be
here, I don’t know what I’m doing here,
I just want to get out of here ... please
help me,”’ Fixter said.
Help is just what Fixter and hun
dreds of other sales representatives
throughout the jewelry community
want to provide, he said.
Because most of Sartor Hamann’s
business comes through the sale of dia
mond rings for weddings, helping to
find the right ring for the right price,
while still making the bride happy, is
important for the store, which has two
locations in Lincoln, at 1150 O St. and
the Gateway Mall.
And often, if the customer is satis
fied with the ring, it establishes a lasting
relationship with the store, said Sandy
O’Neal, sales associate of the Omaha
based Borsheim’s jewelry store, 120
Regency Parkway in Regency Court
“The customers buying engage
ment rings always get the most atten
tion,” O’Neal said of service at
Borsheim’s, which is owned by tycoon
Warren Buffett. “The engagement ring
is usually the first major piece of jewel
ry people buy.”
Buying the ring can be quick and
painless or a drawn-out affair, O’Neal
said, based on the “buyer personality.”
Some of them have done their home
work and shop around vigorously; oth
ers know little more than the ring is sup
posed to be round and gold.
It’s typically these people, Sartor
j. -- '
Hamann’s Fixter said, that overspend
for a ring.
People in Nebraska, he said, are
usually more sensible than those in
other states - Fixter said the Sartor
Hamann store in Fort Gollins, Colo.,
has problems with buyer credit nearly
50 percent of the time - but that many
college students leap before looking.
“Nebraskans are a little wiser with
their money,” Fixter said. “But you
always want to stay within your budget.
You’ve got to spend what you can.”
Inside the store, the process of
determining the right diamond has
become much more exact, with gem
charts and computers to pin down the
precise costs of different cuts, weights
and sizes.
Prices at many stores start at $ 15Q.
and go into the thousands. The low end
at Borsheim’s, O’Neal said, is about
$500, with the high end without limit.
“We’re seeing a lot of couples wait
ing to get married - not so many high
schoolers as there used to be,” O’Neal
said. “So they have a little bit more
money to spend.”
There is, of course, a flip side of the
engagement coin - she might say no. Or
the marriage might fail. In that case, it’s
good to have a backup plan.
Most jewelry stores offer a 30-day
return policy. But some bad relation
ships age over time. So stores work on a
credit basis, refunding some or all of
what hasn’t been paid on the ring.
While all three stores, and every
store out there, want the business of the
prospective ring-buyers, they all sug
gest shopping around.
“People want the best deal, and to
do that you have to know the competi
tion,” O’Neal said. “Our hope is that
they’ll end up here, but they need to find
the best deal for them.”
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