I’ve caught Maria Alex, owner of Alex Brothers Jewellers at the end of a busy week. Her business, based in Oakleigh Victoria, is taking its first step into the world of e-commerce.
“The night before last I was uploading images [and] last night until two in the morning,” says Maria. “I added some more today and all the prices went haywire. We’ve had a few issues,” she adds with a hint of understatement, “but it should be launched by the end of the day.”
Maria is the youngest of three daughters of Peter Alexopoulos, who started Alex Brothers Jewellers back in the 50s, after he brought the family business from Kalamata to Melbourne.
“I’ve slowly taken over from my father who’s now 82,” says Maria, who acts as buyer, designer and marketing director. “I do pretty much everything.” Her apprenticeship as a jeweller began as a child in her father’s Lonsdale Street factory learning to join gold chains. For 50 years, Alex Brothers took their place alongside the delis, cobblers and cake shops that in the early days, made Lonsdale Street the focus of the Greek community’s commercial ventures in Melbourne.
A second outlet operated in Chapel Street, Prahran, before Maria moved operations to Oakleigh in 2008. With a firmly established local customer-base, the Internet is the next logical step for a business that is known to stock the largest range of christening crosses in Australia. Jewellery for ceremonial occasions represents a major proportion of Maria’s sales.
Children’s jewellery is also a big seller. “We used to manufacture a lot of our products, but now we offshore 70 per cent,” says Maria, who designs much of Alex Bros range and then often uses overseas producers from countries as far apart as Greece, Thailand, and China to make up the items. Other pieces to compliment the range are bought in.
With some 5000 items in stock at anyone time, Maria says that whilst customers are still buying the same type of jewellery – matakia, crosses and rings and bracelet, one trend, driven by the increasing price of gold, has seen people settle for 14 carat and 9 carat gold, rather than the 18 carat gold they would have splashed out on in the past. If it’s diamonds you’re after, Alex Bros sources its stock from the most famous diamond merchants in the world – De Beers, and Maria knows what a girl’s best friend is all about.
“A great diamond is measured by its colour, clarity, the cut of the stone, and its fluorescence,” says Maria, who is a qualified diamond grader. This week’s move into e-commerce will present three hundred pieces on the website to begin with, but expand over time. The site, which uses the latest secure web commerce technology, not only allows customers to view the items, but also to make a purchase and order direct. Whilst the world is now Alex Bros Jewellers’ oyster, Maria’s first priority with the website is to expand sales interstate.
“We’re trying to keep up with generational change that is happening around us,” says Maria, “we’re keeping up with the times.” The business that began transforming precious metals and gems into beautiful jewellery in Kalamata has come a long way. Now the journey continues into cyberspace.
Virtual customers can access the website at www.alexbrosjewellers.com.au while more traditional types can visit the shop at 43 Portman Street, Oakleigh, Victoria 3166. Tel. (03) 9568 3033
