Coffee is the most important product the company trades, making Balfour Maclaine one of the largest coffee importers in the United States. The company also trades tea xmas links of london on sale, rice and edible oils and oil seeds worldwide.
Balfour Maclaine continues to account for the bulk of Kay’s business, contributing 72 percent of Kay Corp.’s total revenue of $689 million. However, the jewelry-store operation is now the more profitable of the two divisions, with operating profits equal to 8.4 percent of its sales. Balfour Maclaine’s profits, by comparison xmas links of london sale, equal 2 percent of its revenue.
When Ralli first took over Kay, it wasn’t terribly interested in the jewelry-store operation, admits Kay’s Chief Financial Officer John Belknap. “But then we decided it was a very good opportunity because the market was very fragmented,” with no one company — or even a group of companies — holding a large share of the market.
In 1982, Zale, the nation’s largest chain, accounted for 6.2 percent of all jewelry and watch sales in the United States. Gordon’s accounted for 3 percent Links Bangles , while Kay accounted for 1.3 percent.
Because of this fragmentation, company executives concluded it was possible for Kay to compete against the big national chains — as well as the much smaller independents, such as Melart Jewelers Inc. — and make a relatively healthy profit.
What’s more, Belknap notes, “it was a business with high margins Links Earrings , because of the slow turnover in inventory. We decided we could use these margins to run a tighter and more aggressive business.”
That’s when Lavington decided to take over the jewelry division. Shortly after his arrival in Alexandria in 1974, Kay embarked on an aggressive expansion campaign into new territory, including California, Texas and Arizona. Lavington says his mission was to make Kay “a truly national chain” by selling jewelry to middle-class consumers.