No pressure for new Rosendorff owner

Rosendorff’s new owner is keen to build on the legacy of one of the city’s best-known jewellery stores. 

With many Perth CBD retailers shutting doors or reducing staff numbers, starting a business in what’s currently considered a troubled sector could be viewed as ill-timed.

But for new Rosendorff owner Yoni Levy, Perth’s current retail woes have provided a long-awaited opportunity to transition from the wholesale side of the market.

Receivers were called in to Rosendorff in late April, and while there was no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the company’s founder, Craig Rosendorff, many assumed the business had become the latest victim of Perth’s retail squeeze.

As one of Rosendorff’s biggest unsecured creditors, Mr Levy said he was able to negotiate an outcome that kept the store open and provided a platform for the brand to continue operating.

Mr Levy had run wholesaling business Macabi Diamonds in Perth since 2011, formalising a side business he developed several years prior while working in the securities sector in the UK.

He said a chance meeting with some diamond dealers in his previous career had ignited a passion for the industry, and that passion, coupled with his insights from the wholesale side of the market, gave him a competitive advantage as he took over the Rosendorff brand.

“I’ve spent a lot of time travelling, I’ve been all over the world and I know a lot of people in the industry, from the people who mine the diamonds to the people who polish the diamonds, so I have very strong buying power,” Mr Levy said.

“We are looking to adapt and evolve to meet our customers’ needs.

“What I intend to do is expand the collection, listen to the customer and give them what they want in terms of jewellery design, and I want to educate people about diamonds.

“I’m very positive about the future and the potential of Rosendorff and taking it to the next level.

“It’s the strongest name in Perth jewellery; sometimes in life you have to step up to the challenge, and that’s exactly what I have to do.”

While Mr Levy acknowledged the myriad challenges facing CBD retailers in Perth, which are up against stiff competition from new shopping centres in the suburbs, he preferred to focus on the positives occurring in the centre of the city.

“I see a massive investment in the Perth CBD; you have Forrest Chase, you have Raine Square, you have the plans they are doing in the Carillon Arcade. This can only be good, it will bring more people to shop and spend more time in the city,” Mr Levy said.

“The basics of good business and customer service, this is what gets us through the tougher times.”

Mr Levy said he was also unconcerned with the onslaught of online shopping, pointing to data that indicated only a small proportion of the $4.1 billion of jewellery and watch sales in Australia occurred online.

“Online only accounts for 3 per cent of jewellery and watch purchases in Australia,” Mr Levy said.

“People think they are getting a good deal online but they don’t realise how bad the deal is until they want to sell it.

“We call them diamonds with a disease, there will always be something there that makes it worth half the price.”