For Shop Owner Mike Hackett, It's All About The Bling

For Mike Hackett, one night shift too many made him decide to leave behind a career serving and protecting for a career surrounded by a lot of bling.

While living in Fort Meyers, Fla., Hackett decided to make the switch from working as a police officer and transition into the retail jewelry business.

“I had been working midnights and I was sitting in the squad car thinking, ‘I’m being paid to be exhausted,’” he said recently at his store in downtown Naperville.

Hackett sold jewelry for six years in Florida, at his store You Look Mahvelous, but he and his wife, Heather, decided to move back to the Chicago area, where they both grew up.

He sold his business, which was doing well in Florida, and moved his family to Naperville. Within a few months, he relocated and opened his jewelry store, It’s a Bling Thing, 14 W. Jackson Ave.

The store opened over Memorial Day weekend, and Hackett said business has been doing well since.

Before opening his first store, Hackett consulted with his father, who had a career in retail, he said. He had considered opening a chain store, but his father asked him to consider selling jewelry, and he thought, “yeah, I could do it.”

His father helped him set up the structure for the business and get things in order, Hackett said. He runs the business himself, and said his wife isn’t really that fond of jewelry.

“She jokes she’s not a jewelry girl,” he said. “She benefits in other ways, she gets to stay home” with daughter Kylie, 3.

Hackett made a significant investment in his Naperville business, including employing five people, one full-time and the others working part-time, and renting in downtown Naperville, he said. As an example of the financial investment he made in the business, he said just the light bulbs in his store cost more than $6,000

The store is not located near a lot of retail store traffic, but it is near several restaurants, which has helped provide foot traffic to the store. On a “hopping” night downtown there might be about 30 people mingling in the aisles looking at jewelry, he said.  He hopes that continues after the summer and into the winter.

The Naperville store offers fashion/costume jewelry to customers who range in age from teenagers to seniors, Hackett said. His main clientele are working women who want to have stylish jewelry at a reasonable price.

While the store does offer a section geared toward teens, most of the products sold are for adults, he said. The store offers a wide variety of earrings, necklaces, cubic zirconia rings, watches, handbags and even blown glass. There are also items for men, including watches.

“This is not just a place to buy jewelry,” Hackett said. “I’m trying to create a shopping experience.”

The music is vibrant, the sales staff won’t bother shoppers, and ladies can come in with their girlfriends and have a good time as they browse, he said.

The jewelry is priced aggressively, he said, adding that he wants customers who are comfortable with the product, but who also understand that it is fashion jewelry. If it is taken care of, it will last longer.

“It’s fun and inexpensive and something anyone can afford,” he said. “And, for those who can afford it, to mix it in.”

Five jewelry trends for fall

1)   Silicone watches: Hackett said that while white silicone watches have been the thing, colors like purple, black and brown will become the new craze for the watches.

2)   Metals: Burnished metals with an antique look in colors like chocolate and bone, a black metal, will be the trend for jewelry.

3)   Feathers: He can’t keep feathers in stock. Whether in headbands or ponytails, feathers are the thing.

4)   Rings: Rings are always in fashion.

5)   Big earrings: The big earring is making a come back. The store sells many that are lightweight and that come in the new fashion colors.

Contact It's a Bling Thing, 14 W. Jackson Ave., at 1-630-717-1111 or find them online at www.itsablingthing.co and on Facebook. Along with selling jewelry, the store will also host private parties or fundraisers.