Let it snow diamonds

COEUR d’ALENE — Let it snow.

Especially on Jan. 14.

“You just never know," said Dan Clark of Clark’s Diamond Jewelers. “They are predicting a whole bunch snow this winter.”

The jewelry store on Sherman Avenue is bringing back its "Let it Snow" promotion, despite an insurance dispute last year that soured things just a bit.

Here’s how it works: Starting today, and through Dec. 31, all purchases made at Clark’s will be 100% refunded if it snows at least 4 inches on Jan. 14. The national weather station at the Spokane International Airport will be the official measuring point.

Dan Clark believes the promotion is needed this year, perhaps more than ever.

“For me, it’s always something really fun that sets us apart,” he said on Thursday. “It’s what we do on top of the service, quality and value we provide.”

The promotion became snarled up last year. It offered Clark's customers who made purchases between Nov. 22 and Dec. 31 refunds if it snowed more than 3 inches on Jan. 11 in Coeur d’Alene.

Sure enough, Coeur d’Alene climatologist Cliff Harris measured 3.6 inches of snow in that 24-hour window.

But the insurance company covering the promotion declined to pay the claim after using measurement data provided by Illinois-based Weather Command, which initially recorded 1.8 inches of snow that day.

Later, however, the insurance company changed course and agreed to cover the policy that paid out an estimated $500,000.

Refunds ranged from about $25 to $30,000. Some opted to reinvest in fine jewelry at Clark’s.

Dan Clark said his daughter, “Jeweler Jane” Clark who oversees operations today, was able to secure an underwriter for the promotion, so they decided to do it again. An inch of snow was added to the selected date, and the measuring point was changed. Otherwise, Clark's is ready to ring in a whole lot of Christmas cheer.

“The fun part is, it’s not just one of the patrons who wins. We’re all in this together,” Dan Clark said. “Everyone wins. To me, that’s the fun part.”

Clark’s is a rare family-owned independent jewelry store still at its original location, 307 Sherman Ave. Three generations of Clarks have worked there and developed long-term relationships with customers.

With economic restrictions in place to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus, an already challenging field got even tougher. Many independent jewelry stores have closed.

Even before the virus came along, the Jewelers Board of Trade reported that 852 U.S. jewelry retailers stopped doing business in 2018. That’s on top of 817 businesses that closed in 2017.

“It’s been tough,” Dan Clark said.

But for more than a century, Clark's has held strong while competing with larger, national jewelry companies. Dan Clark credits their quality and service, like offering appointments so customers have their own space and receive one-on-one attention.

“It’s an opportunity not just for us, but our customers to have a private jewelry experience,” Dan Clark said.

There’s something else though, that gives Clark’s an edge: Creativity and good, old-fashioned campaigns like offering full refunds if it snows 4 inches on Jan. 14, 2021.

“Where else does it snow diamonds?” Dan Clark said, laughing.

It actually could.

Harris and meteorologist Randy Mann are calling for above-normal snowfall totals this winter.

“Our initial estimates are going to be around 110 inches in Coeur d’Alene with very healthy totals in the higher elevations,” Mann wrote. “As we’ve been saying for quite some time, it’s possible that we could have a season that challenges the record-breaking 172.9 inches of snow.”

In case you're wondering, they are predicting 73 to 78 inches of snow at the Spokane International Airport.

Dan Clark said in the eight times they have offered the promotion, it has snowed the necessary amount on the selected date twice. Five times, the snowfall was within a day, even hours, of meeting the required measurement.

“They were just right there,” Clark said.

So when people say it will never happen, it won’t snow 4 inches on Jan. 14, Dan Clark knows better.

“It’s not like it can’t happen,” he said.