How do I check a jewellery store’s repair and custom design work in progress?
Ask for a list of every open repair and custom job, then match each ticket to a physical item in the safe or the bench. Check the deposit held, the promised date and who owns the metal and stones. Customer property is not part of the stock you are buying.
Open jobs are promises, and the buyer inherits them. Ask for the full ticket list and walk through it with the seller and the bench jeweller. Each ticket should point to a piece you can actually see, with a tag, a photo and a note of what was agreed. Tickets with no piece, or pieces with no ticket, are a warning that records are loose.
Pay attention to whose property each item is. A customer’s ring left for resizing is not an asset of the shop, and a client’s own stones set into a custom piece are not stock. Ask how these items are kept apart from inventory and whether the insurance covers them while they sit on the premises.
Look at deposits and timing. Custom work often takes a deposit, and the shop may have spent it on materials already. Ask which jobs are late, which customers have complained, and whether any outside workshop is holding pieces. The purchase agreement should say who finishes and who answers for each open job. Ask your lawyer to word that clause, and ask the seller for the customer contact details attached to each job.
Key takeaways
- Match every open ticket to a piece you can see and touch.
- Separate customer property from shop inventory before you rely on any figure.
- Find out which deposits were taken and where that money went.
- Ask whether outside workshops are holding pieces and who is responsible.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are financial statements?
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