B&M?

[Cinemafreak]

I am about to go out and spend $5000.00 on a ring and diamond from a store on Wabash in Chicago. I have seen some posts that use ther term B&M. What does this stand for and would a store on Wabash be one? Should I turn to the internet for my purchase? They have a .90 VS1 G Sym EX Polish Ex, forgot the table and depth, for 4200 and will do the ring for 1000 (see original post for ring picture https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/setting.14939/) Am I getting a good deal? Can the internet sites beat it?


THanks!

 

[wallace]

Hi - (it's your setting fan here) - can't help too much with the stone (sounds ok to me but I am better on squares). But, a B&M is the term used here for a traditional jewlery store - a Brick and Mortar establishment as opposed to an internet vendor. Best!

 

[wallace]

Really, you stone sounds very good and the price, too. I wouldn't change everything now because you are not getting ripped off. There are a lot discussions of the virtues of B&M over internet. Internet vendors do not have the same overhead costs (property, large sales staff, etc.) so the stones sell for less than retail prices. However, your price still sounds good and you will get the advantages of buying in a store like polishing,sizing,maintenance,trade-ins (next year for the one carat you liked so much...?!) and all the conveniences of being able to walk into the store and get things taken care of quickly. To each his own. I like B&M for that reason because those things are important to me. Others do not feel that it is necessary. I think it depends what you want. But, it doesn't sound like you are getting ripped off - but more stats are necessary to determine the appropriate price range for that stone according to cut quality.

 

[wallace]

PS - you might want to post the critical data on the stone you are about to buy on a new thread becuase a lot of people will overlook this one b/c they think you just want to know what a B&M is... you'll need to put a title like - Good price for .90ct RB?
so everyone wil take notice - and they will! They love to propect for stones! But, keep in mind, they will likely quote comparative prices form the internet which not take into account the retail mark-up on the stone. You can use internet prices to guage how much the mark-up is for your store and whehter or not you think it is worth it to pay that amount. Good Luck!

 

[Cinemafreak]

Thanks for the quick repsponse. I checked out this site and did a search using .90 G VS1 and found prices from 3,500 to 4500. I did recently find out that my girlfriends sister-in-laws cousin has a small store near Wabash, so I will give him a try for the diamond. I assume that he is a wholesaler since he has two desks in an office building sharing it with two other people. I will get all the info from the Wabash store and compare it to what he has. My only concern is making the ring. How can you tell if someone can do it well?

Thanks again for all this support!