references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . december 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message reeds jewelers inc. type private company industry retailing jewelers founded 1946 wilmington north carolina headquarters wilmington north carolina key people alan m. zimmer president allan e. metzner vice president bill reinger cfo scott sedlacek vp of merchandising products diamonds jewelry watches swarovski crystal gifts and accessories website www.reeds.com reeds jewelers is a u.s. retail jewelry company founded in 1946 by bill and roberta zimmer in wilmington north carolina . 1 reeds jewelers sells diamonds and precious gems fine jewelry brand name watches pandora charms swarovski crystal and jewelry accessories in its chain of retail stores primarily located in shopping malls and in its online store reeds.com . 1 in may 2008 national jeweler magazine listed reeds jewelers as the ninth largest north american retail jewelry chain . 2 contents 1 history 2 products 3 store locations 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1946 bill zimmer and his wife roberta bought a small downtown jewelry store in wilmington north carolina and changed the name to reeds jewelers . 1 later reeds opened a store in whiteville jacksonville and other cities in both north and south carolina . bill zimmer built reeds business on the foundation of customer service and respect which he deemed the reeds promise . he would often tell his associates the most important thing i ve learned is that you never argue with a customer . you ve just got to do right by people . he carried that philosophy into his treatment of employees vendors and customers alike stating that his priorities were to treat all my people like i d want to be treated i respect them and i let them know they were loved and appreciated . 1 by 1979 reeds jewelers maintained two dozen retail outlets . alan zimmer joined reeds jewelers as executive vice president in 1981 and took charge of merchandising . he officially became president and ceo in 1985 . 3 4 1 in december 1986 reeds jewelers held its initial public offering on the nasdaq stock market trading under the symbol reeds . 5 over the next decade reeds acquired dreifus jewelry company of memphis a nineteen store chain in the southeast and midwest and gray s jewelers inc. a five store chain based in tulsa oklahoma . in 1995 reeds jewelers purchased melart jewelers a mid atlantic based jeweler operating stores in maryland dc and pennsylvania . 6 in 1998 reeds jewelers moved to the american stock exchange and traded using the symbol rji . 7 in february 2004 the company returned to private ownership by the zimmer family making it the largest family owned jeweler in america . 8 in 2014 reeds announced the acceptance of bitcoin a digital currency both in store and online at reeds.com . reeds jewelers is the first fine jeweler to accept bitcoin . 9 products edit reeds provides a wide variety of both gold and non gold jewelry . popular brands and designers include david yurman roberto coin gucci slane forevermark tacori pandora alex and ani and triton . reeds also carries an extensive collection of designer watches including rolex breitling omega tag heuer swiss army tissot movado nixon michael kors citizen eco drive and bulova to name a few . 10 11 in august 2015 reeds collaborated with lg electronics to design and introduce the first luxury android smartwatch the lg watch urbane luxe . features include a body made of 23 karat gold heavy plate a handmade alligator wriststrap with deployment clasp and a piano gloss watch case . 12 store locations edit reeds jewelers store as of july 2014 reeds jewelers operates 64 retail stores in shopping malls and life style shopping centers in 13 states alabama florida georgia kentucky maryland mississippi north carolina pennsylvania south carolina tennessee texas virginia and west virginia . 13 references edit a b c d e reeds jewelers 2013 . company profile for reeds jewelers inc. . corporate website . retrieved 2013 12 27 . state of the majors national jeweler may 16 2008 pp 9 and 44 . donsky martin the family jewels business north carolina 1989 . marcial gene the glitter at reeds business week january 10 1994 p. 57 reeds jewelers inc. company profile information business description history background information on reeds jewelers inc. . www.referenceforbusiness.com . sec file 0 15247 nt 10 q 9 30 1995 form 10 k for the fiscal year end 1998 sec file 1 13893 ex 1 4 8 04 faulkner wayne . reeds jewelers now accepting bitcoin . www.starnewsonline.com . retrieved 29 july 2014 . designers . www.reeds.com . retrieved 29 july 2014 . watches and clocks . www.reeds.com . retrieved 29 july 2014 . lg reveals 1200 luxe smartwatch . www.pcmag.com . retrieved 31 august 2015 . reeds jewelers 2008 . store locator . retrieved 2008 11 02 . external links edit reeds.com retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title reeds jewelers & oldid 725004195 categories 1946 establishments in north carolinacompanies based in wilmington north carolinajewelry retailers of the united statesprivately held companies based in north carolinaretail companies established in 1946hidden categories articles lacking reliable references from december 2008all articles lacking reliable references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 13 june 2016 at 00 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution 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