NEXT The Jewellers is no more. The boards went up on 50 shops last weekend, marking the end of a two-year experiment founded in the days when Next was expanding at a rate of knots and links of london bracelets, and George Davies was reckoned to be the retailer with the magic touch.
Today all 50 stores reopen under a new name, Easthope & Co. Next sold the business for pounds 9m last autumn to a dynamic new boss, 40-year-old John Easthope, who has worked seven-day weeks for six months to put together a new- look jewellery chain which he claims will revolutionize jewellery retailing in Britain. Easthope & Co is working closely with leading jewellery designers to put together fashion collections of costume jewellery at affordable prices.
For this summer, the company has joined forces with Dinny Hall, voted
Dinny Hall is delighted to be selling in the high street for links of london sale. ''We have taken some of our best sellers from previous seasons and reworked them specially for Easthope,'' she says.
They include her popular Celtic cross and coil pendants, and silver and amber rose window earrings. While her designer collection sells for pounds 40 to pounds 300, the most expensive piece in her range for Easthope & Co is pounds 18.99.
John Easthope is equally pleased with the Dinny Hall link-up. ''Customers want jewellery with some element of design. Some of the products you can get on the high street haven't changed in more than a decade. In my experience people are much more confident about wearing jewellery these days. Even my wife, who used to like only classic pairs of earrings, is experimenting.
''I've noticed that sales of watches in particular are booming. They have become a very special way of making a statement. People are wearing weekend watches, evening watches, even squash watches.''
Next The Jewellers sold both costume and fine jewellery. Easthope wants to pursue the same strategy, but that is about the only good thing he can bring himself to say about the old chain.
