James Allen Opens Washington Concept Store

RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has launched a brick-and-mortar conceptstore for its e-commerce brand James Allen. The store, which opened on Friday in the Georgetown area ofWashington, D.C., will feature an immersive gallery experience aimed at thebrand's younger consumer base, the retailer said last week.   "We're excited to continue executing Signet's customer-first,omni-channel strategy with this new shopping experience from JamesAllen.com,integrating both our digital and physical retail platforms," said Signet CEO VirginiaDrosos. "The world-class innovation and technology at the core of JamesAllen.com'sbusiness will come to life in the new location, redefining the jewelry-shoppingexperience for our customers." The new location will feature a range of digitalexperiences, including virtual-reality headsets for viewing 3D videos ondiamonds and the 4Cs. It will also have a coffee bar with tablet-based technologythat enables customers to browse and grade diamonds online and viewpeer-to-peer comparisons. The store will also have a photo booth where customers can tryon rings, take pictures, and upload them to social media, as well as a 10-foot,self-service diamond display table. Signet will use the store as an incubator for testing designplans and digital initiatives for all its brands, Drosos said in a conferencecall with analysts last week transcribed by SeekingAlpha. Signet acquired James Allen parent company R2Net for $328 millionin August 2017. The deal also included the purchase of Segoma ImagingTechnologies, a provider of diamond-display technology. Image: James Allen diamond ring. (James Allen/Instagram)