My Store: Unique Opal Mine Adelaide

STORe: UNIQUE OPAL MINE ADELAIDE
 

Country: Australia

Names: Tim Sheridan and Steven Miles

Position: Co-Owners

When was the renovated space completed?

The jewellery store on the ground level was established 40 years ago and the mine beneath the shop was built 35 years ago. The old owner showed us photos of the renovation and from our understanding, the mine space was mainly dug out with wheelbarrows, which nowadays you would never get away with. We took over the business about five and a half years ago.

Who is the target market and how did they influence the store design?

We have a lot of tourists and mining enthusiasts – “rockhounds” we call them – who visit. In the school holidays we have a lot of families and children coming to see the space. The mine has possibly the largest retail opal collection in the world. We do cutting and polishing demonstrations in the mine space so it’s very interactive for both our visitors and ultimately, our customers.

With the relationship between store ambience and consumer purchasing in mind, which features in the store encourage sales?

Most of our customers venture downstairs into the mine and that really encourages sales. They can see all the different types of Australian opals we have on offer. The mine space is split into Queensland boulder opal, Adamooka and Cooper Pedy sections so customers can identify different types of opals and discover what they like.

What is the store design’s ‘wow factor’?

We have an opalised dinosaur from Cooper Pedy on display. The Plesiosaur was originally on display in Adelaide Museum and the miner who found it later had it in a box in his garage. When we found out, we flew right over to check it out. The mine space is also lined with around $150,000 worth of opal, so that’s an attraction.