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| Susan Jacques, Borsheims president and CEO, shows Warren Buffett the special shareholder price on a piece of jewelry. Photo credit: Borsheims |
Borsheims said it had record sales during its annual discount period for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders partly because Warren Buffett served a stint as a salesman for the Omaha, Neb.-based luxury retail jeweler.
The weeklong discount period for shareholders who attended the annual Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, held this past weekend, resulted in a 45 percent sales increase over the same period last year, Borsheims said on its website.
Borsheims, one of the nation’s largest independent jewelry stores, is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, where Buffett is chairman. On Sunday May 1, Buffett took a turn as a salesman for an hour and it was apparently quite successful.
Borsheims CEO Susan Jacques, said Buffett sold a $30,000 ring to a woman and a diamond bracelet for a man who held up his credit card and said he just wanted to buy something from Buffett, according to the Omaha World-Herald website.
The price of gold was a slight factor in the increase, Jacques reportedly said. However, a decision by Berkshire to sell jewelry in addition to memorabilia at the Qwest Center, where the shareholders meeting was held, was a bigger reason. Shareholders purchased lower-priced jewelry items and bought eight pairs of 1-ct. diamond-stud earrings, at about $2,000 each, the newspaper reported.
Borsheims attracted 14,000 eager buyers Friday evening and a record 8,000 on Sunday, Jacques told the newspaper. Below is a video of Buffett selling jewelry at Borsheims: