I normally avoid comments about Dealers....

[TswaneNguni]

If a Rolex AD loses the license,they were naughty .

[NoVaSubowner]

Originally Posted by TswaneNguni

If a Rolex AD loses the license,they were naughty .

Not in all cases. This has been a trend worldwide for years now.


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[JePro]

That's unfortunate

[Fleetlord]

I have never been to this AD, but when i read the post, I had a vision in my head of what this store would look like...

My vision was that it was an older storefront, on a high street, in a quaint part of town...

This store would be small, so Rolex would be crowbarred in between a less expensive watch brand and diamond earrings on sale for $999.00.

When I saw the pics of the store online, it was exactly as I pictured it.

Unfortunately that is not the place that ROLEX wants their brand sold out of anymore, especially since that metro market is quite saturated with ROLEX AD's.

That "look" might fly in an isolated, affluent, beach town or the such, but not in a large metro area. They aren't needed there.

Odds are that another dealer stepped up and agreed to build a Rolex boutique on the scale of a palace...that leaves the old storefront dealers out of the game.

Expect more of this to happen. There are still too many Rolex AD's out there in order to maintain the distribution limitations that are absolutely essential to the success of the brand in the luxury space. NOTHING is more important than exclusivity...so much so that Rolex cannot be offered for sale in stores that run sale advertisements for "cheap" jewelry. I don't mean to come across as a snob, but Rolex certainly is...

[TswaneNguni]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

I have never been to this AD, but when i read the post, I had a vision in my head of what this store would look like...

My vision was that it was an older storefront, on a high street, in a quaint part of town...

This store would be small, so Rolex would be crowbarred in between a less expensive watch brand and diamond earrings on sale for $999.00.

When I saw the pics of the store online, it was exactly as I pictured it.

Unfortunately that is not the place that ROLEX wants their brand sold out of, especially since that metro market is quite saturated with ROLEX AD's.

That "look" might fly in an isolated, affluent, beach town or the such, but not in a large metro area.

Odds are that another dealer stepped up and agreed to build a Rolex boutique on the scale of a palace...that leaves the old storefront dealers out of the game.

Expect more of this to happen. There are still too many Rolex AD's out there in order to maintain the distribution limitations that are absolutely essential to the success of the brand in the luxury space. NOTHING is more important than exclusivity...so much so that Rolex cannot be offered for sale in stores that run sale advertisements for "cheap" jewelry. I don't mean to come across as a snob, but Rolex certainly is...

Depends on where in the world ..here you don't want flashy displays and large stock on display and large billboards .Safety reasons .
Many ADs have had armed robberies recently.Many big malls have upped security with private firms over the festive season.

[daOnlyBG]

Originally Posted by TswaneNguni

If a Rolex AD loses the license,they were naughty .

That's the logical congruence of saying "If Bill is rich, Bill (specifically) buys a Lamborghini."

[zengineer]

Originally Posted by AK797

Same thing happening to the High Street with the rise of Amazon and internet shopping, sad to think one man, a CEO, has 100 billion that otherwise would have been paid as salaries to thousands of working class people, price of conglomeration.

Amazon is a one man operation with no employees? Who knew.

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[Cabaiguan]

Originally Posted by AK797

Same thing happening to the High Street with the rise of Amazon and internet shopping, sad to think one man, a CEO, has 100 billion that otherwise would have been paid as salaries to thousands of working class people, price of conglomeration.

Typical socialist BS. How many jobs has Amazon created? Not just the company itself, but the suppliers, couriers and other businesses that help get a package to your door. Think about how many jobs that has created. Think for a minute how many people feed their families because of it.

Forgive me if I’m harsh, but you lack a basic understanding of our economy.


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[Bozack90]

Originally Posted by NoVaSubowner

But this feels like a requiem more than a comment.

I went into Kings in Old Town to get my wife's watch bracelet adjusted. The son of the owner informed me that they were losing Rolex effective the end of the year.

Apparently Rolex USA informed them that they were moving away from small shops like Kings, towards the high traffic store/AD owned boutique model, which for the life of me I can't understand why they would have more confidence in a shop with competing brands as opposed to a shop that highlighted Rolex.

This is also after they remodeled the shop a few years ago to accommodate Rolex's new displays, not cheap by sense of the word at all.

The owners were really good, civic minded people who supported a lot of local organizations and charities. It was an old school place to buy a watch, like many of the Rolex dealers used to be.

It's left a sour taste with me... the entire trend towards the Tourneaus of the world as opposed to the small mom and pop stores. Stores that put Rolex on the map in this country.

wow that sucks, I never bought there but when I lived in the area I always thought they were a great dealer....terrible when smaller shops with better service don't make it through. Wonder if they will pick up another brand to try to fill the void.

seems like Rolex is moving away from single location dealers and more towards multi location - won't be surprised if they also explore direct to consumer sales eventually though from what I have heard all of their boutiques are owned by other dealers so maybe they just want higher volume sellers to represent them.

[fsprow]

I think the reality, for better or worse, is that smaller retailers of all kinds are being replaced by web purchases (including online jewelry sellers and watch resellers) and very upmarket larger stores dealing in expensive merchandise. Rolex is just responding to the inevitable.

[fsprow]

Originally Posted by AK797

Same thing happening to the High Street with the rise of Amazon and internet shopping, sad to think one man, a CEO, has 100 billion that otherwise would have been paid as salaries to thousands of working class people, price of conglomeration.

The Amazon supply chain contains thousands of people providing for their families and delivers affordable goods at significantly lower cost to people who have very limited budgets. For one, my life has been made greatly easier by the ability to buy goods from Amazon and have them delivered directly to my door. Guess you feel differently.

If Jeff Bezos wants to have a 100 room house and 100 toilets it’s OK with me. He’s worked hard for them.

[vipereaper30]

Originally Posted by CashGap

My first choice would be Amazon.

Second a vending machine.

Then an Apple Store type place.

And so on.

My last choice is always the mom and pop store, where you need to “develop a relationship” and willingly pay more because they bought a table at the little league banquet.

The race to the bottom, it's sad imo that many if not most consumers follow your logic. For sustainability reasons alone I want the local business.

[Jim Smyth]

Originally Posted by Investr

Ive seen this exact scenario happen here. Rolex definitely has a vision of who they want selling the goods. It’s their way or the highway. Kinda ruthless but ......

They have always been known as the 800# bully.........

[Robtayham]

Originally Posted by Bigblu10

Wait a minute. Small market? Alexandria, Virginia across the Potomac from Washington, DC? Hardly a "small market". Northern Virginia along with DC suburbs of Maryland are among the wealthiest counties in the entire USA!
BTW OP, I bought my TT Submariner Bluesy from King's back in the mid 90's and they were a joy to deal with. Truly a sign of the times unfortunately.

Originally Posted by locutus49

I strongly disagree. It is ADs in towns like Alexandria (which is actually a city) that enable people outside of metro areas to buy Rolexes. I think this will cause more people to buy from the internet.

Originally Posted by e dantes

It will help the buyers in, or near, big cities. Many of us owners do not live near any place where Rolex will have boutiques.

I find it sad that it will make it even more difficult for those of us not in those places.

Originally Posted by NoVaSubowner

You need to stop by Alexandria Old Town next time you are in DC. I guarantee you the demographics are far from "small market". And we are directly across the river from Washington, DC Not exactly a small market by itself either.

Originally Posted by Bizcut1

Yeah. Sure. This is one brand so in need of “help.”

Whatever that means.

It won’t help any buyers either. That makes no sense. Besides, how is a suburb of Washington DC considered small market. No, there has to be more to this story.

Originally Posted by bezler

Small markets?!??!?? Uh.... what?

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I’ve been to Alexandria and DC many times and am familiar with them both.

My post wasn’t focused on the potential market, but this small mom and pop retailer that is marketing to a small subset of the market. If they were effective at tapping into the larger DC and surrounding areas, they wouldn’t be a small mom and pop shop.

In other words, it’s the size of the market that they’re supporting. The questioj will always be: ‘What value do they bring to Rolex, when there are other more effective ADs serving the broader DC market?’.

Rolex doesn’t want to be Starbucks, with a store on every street corner. Nor does Porsche, Bentley, PP, or any other luxury good provider.

It absolutely sucks for these business owners, but they didn’t effectively compete against their competition. So they lost, and are losing their Rolex affiliation as a result. Businesses have to evolve to survive.

Think about it: who on TRF would be willing to only rely on their local AD for Rolex searches, comparisons, and buying? No one would. So while we romanticize these small mom and pop stores, we don’t actually want to go back to the days when mom and pop stored were all there was. So lets be honest about that.

[NoVaSubowner]

Originally Posted by Robtayham

I’ve been to Alexandria and DC many times and am familiar with them both.



My post wasn’t focused on the potential market, but this small mom and pop retailer that is marketing to a small subset of the market. If they were effective at tapping into the larger DC and surrounding areas, they wouldn’t be a small mom and pop shop.



In other words, it’s the size of the market that they’re supporting. The questioj will always be: ‘What value do they bring to Rolex, when there are other more effective ADs serving the broader DC market?’.



Rolex doesn’t want to be Starbucks, with a store on every street corner. Nor does Porsche, Bentley, PP, or any other luxury good provider.



It absolutely sucks for these business owners, but they didn’t effectively compete against their competition. So they lost, and are losing their Rolex affiliation as a result. Businesses have to evolve to survive.



Think about it: who on TRF would be willing to only rely on their local AD for Rolex searches, comparisons, and buying? No one would. So while we romanticize these small mom and pop stores, we don’t actually want to go back to the days when mom and pop stored were all there was. So lets be honest about that.

I think it’s an oversimplification to automatically concur that a store loses a valuable dealership because they did not tap into the regional market. I don’t think they would have been selling Rolex for 40 years plus if they hadn’t been drawing from a bigger area.

I think the real answer lies in what they were told. Higher volume dealers and boutiques are the way of the future for Rolex USA. The goal besides selling watches is to further enhance the aura of exclusivity possessed by the brand.




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[12o'clockhigh]

Originally Posted by Bozack90

seems like Rolex is moving away from single location dealers and more towards multi location - won't be surprised if they also explore direct to consumer sales eventually...

If I could to go the Rolex web site, click on the reference I want and have one delivered to me I would be a happy, happy camper. Even if it was "on backorder," I wouldn't have to deal with being pushed down the priority list every time a heavy hitter decided on a whim that he or she wanted the reference I have been trying to acquire for some time. From this consumer's perspective, that would be positive.

[Calatrava r]

Not sure why Rolex would just want to reduce ADs. I think the reasons are there are too many retailers in a given market, the store is under the Rolex current standard or it consistently breaks Rolex policy.

[Swaye]

I frequent one of these small Mom and Pop ADs that has had Rolex for over 70 years. If they ever lose their AD affiliation then Rolex loses me as well. Not out of any huge loyalty I have to my AD (though I am loyal as they have treated me great and I truly like them), but because I am not going through the "build a relationship" phase again. I have plenty of watches, and do not need any more for the rest of my life. They are a pure luxury item I enjoy purchasing because I quite like the experience of working with my AD to fill out my collection. But if I never got a watch again I'd live.

I have less than zero interest in going to some mega AD or boutique in a huge city. Just not my thing. Now, when I say I'd be done with Rolex, I don't mean totally done. Trusted sellers for lightly used and vintage dealers/collectors for trades and such would still be in play. I just wouldn't buy new from the case anymore. Rolex would not miss me, that I know. But would still be sad to me. I quite enjoy going to the AD and talking about car shows, kids, trains, and a million other topics unrelated to Rolex watches. My AD has no other watches besides Rolex though, just reasonably high end jewelry, so I think that has kept them safer than many other small shops that offer multiple brands.

Who knows? It's Rolex world, we just live in it.

[Speedbird-1]

Don't like to see loyalty 'punished'. (Every dog has its day).

Maybe the way for them to go, is, as a grey seller.
At least they'll have a reliable supply of watches that people want.
No b/s restrictions from HQ, either.

[casadecamporolex]

Originally Posted by Bigblu10

King street in old town is a great place to stroll in the summertime, have a nice dinner at one of the fine eateries and watch the entertainment down near the water. There is no lack of $$ there, as you know with those old colonial era townhomes selling for $$millions. You have Tourneau in pentagon city, Lenkersdorfer in Tysons mall and their sister store and Tiny Jewel box in DC. And another AD up in Frederick, MD. I guess Rolex wants high volume, large boutique style AD's with lots of fancy store swag to surround you. Problem is there is nothin' in the display cases.

My wife was visiting Tyson Corners Mall and stopped by the Liljenquist store and counted over 90 on display. Probably another 25 in the vaults.
Rolex is fully supporting the bigger accounts at the expense of the smaller AD.
Our local AD has less than 50. And all allocated watches are only going to the big boys.
I know the folks at King’s.....a wonderful retail environment reminiscent of another era.
Not "bougie" enough for the Swiss stuffed shirts.

[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by Calatrava r

Not sure why Rolex would just want to reduce ADs. I think the reasons are there are too many retailers in a given market, the store is under the Rolex current standard or it consistently breaks Rolex policy.

This has been occurring for decades. When I moved to the D.C. area suburbs in the mid 90's there were family owned Rolex AD's already closing down. I believe one was Leon Fleischer jewelers. There is a Tourneau in Pentagon city, not sure if it is a Rolex boutique though. Is anyone aware of any Rolex "boutiques" in the DC area? I'm not sure.

[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by casadecamporolex

My wife was visiting Tyson Corners Mall and stopped by the Liljenquist store and counted over 90 on display. Probably another 25 in the vaults.
Rolex is fully supporting the bigger accounts at the expense of the smaller AD.
Our local AD has less than 50. And all allocated watches are only going to the big boys.
I know the folks at King’s.....a wonderful retail environment reminiscent of another era.
Not "bougie" enough for the Swiss stuffed shirts.

Over 90 Rolex pieces on display??!! That would have been picture worthy in this current climate of empty cases.

[Italia64]

Originally Posted by NoVaSubowner

Not in all cases. This has been a trend worldwide for years now.

Indeed it has, unfortunately. I went into a local AD several years ago, and they had been recently informed of being cut off by Rolex. They sold numerous brands, Rolex was their most expensive line iirc, and were a decent sized store in a nice area, but there are several much larger dealers in the area (DFW) and I guess they didn't make the cut.

It is a curious move, as Rolex advertises heavily yet is restricting the purchase funnel to fewer locations and in many (all?) cases to those where access to purchase becomes more difficult unless you are a repeat high-dollar customer. I guess that's what they want, but it seems incongruent with all of the advertising which makes it appear so available.

[V25V]

Originally Posted by Bigblu10

Over 90 Rolex pieces on display??!! That would have been picture worthy in this current climate of empty cases.

Yeah no way there is 90 on display....


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[robrtx]

Similar story with family run AD I'd bought from for years. Rolex requires hundreds of thousands of dollars of renovations and shop space at ADs expense with zero guarantee of inventory. Not a viable business option for a smaller player.

Went into a "chain" AD recently and they had an entire wall dedicated to Rolex, probably ten or twelve feet of space and all of these little individual glass enclosed "cubbies" for the Rolex watches to go.........empty.

[beshannon]

Originally Posted by casadecamporolex

My wife was visiting Tyson Corners Mall and stopped by the Liljenquist store and counted over 90 on display. Probably another 25 in the vaults.

I was there two weeks ago and they did not have 9 Rolex watches on display and have not for over a year.

[dnpina]

I suppose if Rolex closes my smaller AD, I'm done with Rolex. I have enough watches and will not get in the back of the line for anything new at a new dealer. Like others have said: plenty of other brands to enjoy.

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[RC2]

The Apple Watch will take over or something like it. My son told me my Rolex just tells time. Oh well....times change. Let me look for my pocket watch...wait. Oh ya. Never mind.


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[MTdweller]

I’m fortunate to live near a city where the same family-owned jewelry business has three locations, all with Rolex displays. Given the shortage of supply and their bare display cases, I wouldn’t be surprised if they consolidated all their inventory to one location in the coming year.

[SeikoBake]

What a shame