Past Shows

Once the Kootenay Rock and Gem Show is over, we travel to Alberta again for the Lethbridge Gem and Mineral Show. On the way to Lethbridge, we have the opportunity to witness the largest truck in the world. Words cannot describe how big this truck is, lucky that we have Marble in the photo for comparison. Rainbow along the Highway Some beautiful view along the highway Introduction about the largest truck             Lethbridge is the biggest city in southern Alberta. Although there is so much to see in Lethbridge, we decide to spend our week in some delicious food and shopping because we feel like it is time to give ourselves a good rest. Most popular restaurant in Lethbridge Lamb chop Creme Brulee                 The show itself is pretty quiet. It makes sense because this is the first time for us to be here. It seems like not many local like to attend to shows like this. Every time we go to a show, we need to consider our expense for staying at hotels and the booth fee, the conclusion we have come to for this one is that this show is not very impressive. We certainly hope that there will be more people coming to the show if we decide to try for another year. Now it is time to go back home! Before set up Show display

Stepping into the month of June, we are going to Castlegar and Lethbridge for two shows that we have never been before. This gives a good reason for traveling to cities which we would seldom go.Since Castlegar locates in the south of BC, GPS directs us to a new highway - highway 3. Unfortunately, just like the last time we traveled to Calgary, we have another road closed for about half an hour. However, this does not stop us from seeing some fantastic views along the highway. Road closed on the Highway        Castlegar is a small town, but the show location is very good. The hall has enough space and lights for all the vendors. Because this is our first time in this show, we do not get as much space as we used to in other shows, we need to rearrange our stands so that they are displayed in the best way to our customers. Before the set up After the set up Booth display                The first day is rather slow, but we are quite experienced to this because it takes time for customers to trust us that the silver we sell is pure. We are confident that there will be more local customers buying from us if we have patience giving by our competitive pricing and there is not much local jewellery shops nearby.After the first day of show, we go to a buffet organized by the Kootenay gem club with most of the vendors. The restaurant is located in a golf course and the food is excellent. Golf course next to the restaurant Appetizer Main Course       The next day is much better. Many vendors and club members come to buy some of the findings. Again, we notice the values participating shows with vendors selling finished products. It makes sure that our sales stay in a reasonable level even when the local customers are starting to know us. Therefore, the show in general is pretty good and we know that it can only be better. 

In the third week of May, we travel to Nanaimo for the gem and mineral show for the first time. It is a quiet and beautiful harbour city. We are pleased to be invited because we had great experience in Victoria and we know there are many jewellery artists on the island. We want to meet them, to let them know that we are a local findings supplier. Booth Display It is a bit unfortunate that we cannot set up our booth on the day before. Therefore, we have to wake up very early to make sure we have everything ready before the customers come in. It's very nice for the organizer to arrange a volunteer to help us set up.  Lots of Customers show up in the show Once everything is ready and the front door is opened, the stadium is packed. It is surprising to see so many people in a small city. Looks like the organizer did a great job advertising. We are very grateful to introduce ourselves to the new customers in this beautiful city. It takes time for them to build the trust with us. Overall the show is better than we expected. Lots of oystersAbove are some gorgeous views from this lovely harbour city. We can't wait to come back here next year.

Since Edmonton gem show is just the next weekend after the Calgary show. We stay in Calgary over the week to visit some of the customers. We have a good break and meet some really awesome customers. Canmore Beautiful city near CalgaryThis year's Edmonton gem show has a new location. It is located in downtown Edmonton, and it is a formal conference centre. Booth display The appearance of the conference centre The high class decorationLocation wise, this show is located in downtown, and it is got a some fancy decoration. This is a perfect place for some company meeting, ceremonies and parties. However, it is the opposite to the jewellery designers and others who rather spend their money on rocks because there is not much parking space provided to the public and they charge $10 per day. Therefore, we do not have many customers as we used to. The stadium is quite empty. We feel like the parking is the main reason of the shortage of customers. Luckily, we have vendors to buy from us to cover our expense for staying one more week in Alberta. We hope that the organizer will consider our comments and change to a more reasonable stadium next year.Now it is time to go home and be ready for the next trip.

First week of May is the time for us to head to Calgary for the Calgary Rock and Lapidary Club Show. Calgary is our best market in Canada at the moment and the view along the way to Calgary is always fascinating. Some beautiful view along the highway  However, we get stuck in the middle of nowhere for two hours. We have to take a break in the car until the road is cleared. Because of the closure, it costs us three more hours to Calgary, by the way we get there, its already midnight. Road closed on the highway A long line up due to the road closure This show exceeds our expectation once again. Many loyal customers have waited months for us to come. Besides, since the US dollar continues to climb while the Canadian dollar remains the same, it seems like there is a group of jewellery designers that used to buy from US has turn to us. It is very exciting to see many Canadians have starting to support local business. We appreciate their support so much.We are glad to announce that we are coming back to Calgary in October for another gem show. Hopefully we will see you again in October.

On one hand, we are exited to announce that we are finally starting to use the POS system. In this case, we can be much more efficient during the shows especially for the ones that are extremely busy. After all the hard work during the week, we have put barcodes on every item so we can scan them just like the check out process in the supermarket. We used to spend lots of time packing items and writing itemized receipts to the customers, now that the receipts are generated automatically, it will save a lot of precious time for our customers. Booth Display Our items need lots of light to light them up On the other hand, we want to thank the Richmond gem and mineral society to give us four tables this time. They all are very kind and nice people, we are proud to be one of the members. Even though there is not much light provided in the room,we have enough equipment to make our items shine.

The first show in April is the BC Gem Show located in Abbotsford, BC. This is the biggest club show in BC, it belongs to the B.C. lapidary society. We are always very grateful to participate in this show because customers tend to trust us if they know we are vendors in this show. If customers are only allowed to go to one show in a year, most of them would pick this one. Booth Display Extra helperThis shows opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is the only show that opens on Friday morning mainly for kids in town. Their teachers bring them here as field trip to educated them.Besides, they have a huge space specially for demonstration. You can learn all sorts of knowledge about jewellery making here. Huge demonstration boothThe gold panning booth is always popular for kids. Gold panning Instruction on how to find gold!!A young customer is looking for a small gift for his mother. Silvia can definitely help! Good customer serviceWe meet a new customer in this show who is from Prince George. This show is the reason she came all the way to Abbotsford. Again this shows the value of this show. We would not meet her if we are not participating this show. Customers from all over the province 

The second show in April is the Toronto Gem and Mineral Show. Since this is a little bit too far for us to drive, we need to take the airplane and therefore, we can only carry limited items to the show. Booth Display A customer tells us that she came to buy some sample from us last year and know that we are trustworthy, so she becomes one of our largest customer in the show this year. We are so glad to hear that because this is the purpose of traveling all the way to Toronto and have heavy pressure to cover the expense every year. We need our customers to know that we are a trustworthy company. Sometimes it is necessary to treat ourselves well after a long day. We have an awesome dinner with vendors we met in the show. The food is very good, and the show by the chief is very entertaining. "Volcano" Dinner with some lovely vendors

Our Last show in March is the Vancouver Gem and Mineral Show located in PNE (Pacific National Exhibition). This is the ideal size for our booth because it allows us to demonstrate our items well in full range. Displays in the show We have met many new customers in this showAs we expected, this show is very successful, we have customers waiting in lines to get in the show everyday. We meet lots of new customers in the show and it advertised our brand very well. Fortunately we have had some good friends to work with us in this big booth. We feel grateful to their generous help.Figure 5Many thanks to Karen Bin, Anna Bin, Tony Tan, Aaron He and the little girls who help us count some of the items.  We have a new sales record in the show.We cannot do this without you.