COUTURE: What’s notable about your store, what is your unique point of view?

Sean Moore: We have several unique points of view. We’re a very large jewelry store, over 62,000 feet, in the middle of the United States that a lot of people don’t know about. Why such a big jewelry store in Omaha? That’s unique in itself. We’re a Berkshire Hathaway company and because they’re here and we’re here we’re the big company we are.

The affordability of Omaha, the affluent nature of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders and the quiet wealth that’s in Omaha are what has empowered us to be a financially strong jewelry and gift company, and because of the Berkshire Hathaway connection we draw consumers from across the country and across the world. What made us appealing to Berkshire Hathaway, and hopefully to our consumers, is our desire to own a lot of merchandise; we have a huge inventory! We try to provide a really competitive price and value to our consumer, which results in clients that come to us not just for an occasion, but for a lifetime.

Additionally, we have very high requirements of our staff and employees to ensure that they learn the jewelry and the product—we have 16 Graduate Gemologists on staff, and most of our team are JA certified as sales or management professionals and have undergone GIA education and training—so they are well versed and very knowledgeable in jewelry and not just in relationship and sales prowess.

COUTURE: What COUTURE designers or brands are your clients really responding to lately and why?

SM: Quiet wealth and stealth are pretty important in the world right now, not just because of the safety and security concerns that people in big cities have, it’s just the casual nature of people right now that they aren’t wearing big, which means lots of the jewelry is more dressed down and a little less flashy. We’re in Omaha, Nebraska, and while 45% of our business is outside of the state, 55% is inside Nebraska and the local customers are pretty conservative, so we sell a lot of conservative jewelry.

Roberto Coin is very strong for us. It’s a great name, a great brand, pretty jewelry and a lot of it is understated; it’s just beautiful but simple and classic, not overdone.

For the same reason, Marco Bicego is very strong for us. It’s very pretty jewelry and it’s not big and flashy, just beautiful and traditional.

Phillips House also has pretty, understated classic pieces that our customers are drawn to.

Kwiat is a strong seller for us as well for those looking for beautiful, impeccably crafted diamond pieces.

Oscar Heyman also has very beautiful, classic pieces that are extremely popular with our clients.

COUTURE: Where’s the best spot in town to grab a quick lunch?

SM: The Blackstone district is a great area with lots of delicious options. We love this taco place called Moula, and for pizza we go to Nolis. The Cottonwood Hotel is a really nice place with a great restaurant so people will hop in there for a quick lunch.

COUTURE: Where’s the best restaurant for entertaining clients or out of town guests?

SM: It depends on what you want! A lot of people who come to Omaha want steak. There are a couple of really fancy steak places, and one of the best is a local spot called The Drover; they have whiskey marinated steaks and they are so good. We used to have a Berkshire Hathaway customer who would fly in from Venezuela for a couple of days, he’d shop at Borsheims, shop the Nebraska Furniture Mart, and he loved The Drover’s steak so much he’d buy 2 cases of steaks and put them on his plane and take them home. So if somebody wants a steak we take them to The Drover, if they want an Indian restaurant we take them to Kinaara, and for really great Italian we take them to Pasta Amore.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite bar? (High/low options preferred)

SM: I like a quiet bar where I can actually carry on a conversation with whomever I’m with. Bonefish is right next door and they have some great martinis so in terms of convenience and familiarity, I’ll go to Bonefish; it’s a nice place because it’s upscale, and I can talk and communicate. There’s also a speakeasy downtown called the Wicked Rabbit which is fun, and it’s not common to have a speakeasy in Omaha. The first time I went they wouldn’t let me in without my I.D. but I’ve since gone in (with my I.D.!) and it’s a cool place, very fun.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite local cultural spot?

SM: Omaha has one of the best zoos in the United States and not a lot of people know how impressive our zoo is. I spend a lot of time there with my family because it’s a phenomenal zoo, and it’s a really safe place where there’s enough things for kids to do so you can just sort of let them loose!

The Durham Museum, which was the Union Pacific terminal that’s been turned into a museum, does different events for the community and different exhibits, so we take the family there many times a year and it’s a really cool place.

COUTURE: What’s special about your town?

SM: Omaha is a big small town, or a small big town, depending on how you want to look at it. There are lots of people who move to Omaha to work with big companies like Mutual of Omaha or Berkshire Hathaway, and they’ll move from major cities to be part of these business and after being here for a while, they’ll end up maintaining a residence because it’s such a special place. There is a laundry list of reasons it’s a great place—cost of living is low, it takes 20 minutes to get anywhere, there’s lots happening (you’d be surprised!), it’s quiet, safe and comfortable, people are polite and respectable, and they look out for each other. I know we get too comfortable being comfortable, but Omaha is a really great comfortable community and once you’ve experienced Omaha it’s hard to get the Omaha out of you, people who move away come back frequently or maintain a space here.