Episode 352 "Wafi"

They get a little They called me.

Broadcasting live from Atlanta, GEORGIAIL. Welcome to the ball Alert Show. I go by the name of Ferrari Simmis. I go to that you know, bt hey Man, Waffie from Julia or Liberty.

This in the building.

All right, this is.

Actually our real friend and our real jeweler. You introduced me to Waffi. I met Wifie and I spent money with him the same day.

I think of everybody that I introduced to wafing the same day.

I'm not like wealthy though. I mean, hell man, I'm up an exche line. But I ain't up there either.

Swaffe, how many times I asked him for discounts?

Every time I don't necessarily ask for a discount, but I say, hey, man, you know, look this is I bought my wife's engagement ring from Waffi.

You actually built it for me.

Yeah, thank you. I did not know that he like created it.

That was what like three four years now, twenty nineteen, okay five.

I paid a lot of money.

I mean, you make a lot of money.

You made, but like that was the first.

That was the highest thing I ever got for somebody outside of myself.

And I think I need to wear to say that.

Not for sure that is normal.

But yeah, but Waffi, Waffee does everybody's jewelry, like you.

Know, little baby.

Mostly I saw that falcons Shane, Yeah is crazy. I believe you did like the other stuff like you did one of his first big change too, like back in seventeen.

Yeah, like for PF chains back in the day.

Yeah, who was like the first I would say, like the first artists that that really you know, uh shot with you and you know just started, you know you you kind of seen the influence. Like I just remember when I first came to your shop, because first of all.

How did you find Wiffy? Where did you find wife?

Well, we have a mutual friend, so I believe Sham. They had a dinner and I went to the dinner and Waffi was there and he was like, hey man, oh, if you want to get some jury, you need to holler at Waffi.

And he's like he does everybody Julie da da da. He's super cool.

So I went and had a conversation with him at the dinner and I and I got his number. He said, YO, pull up on me anytime. And then I went to a store and everybody was like, yeah, we uh, what's that change? Kwavo was wearing I want to I want to change just like that, and I was like, yo, and then you know, you go in the store.

You can see because that's when you was in the mall.

Yeah, Northlake one of my favorite malls, hant Jay Rop. But anyway, what I was, we we had a mall conversation that went viral, still going viral on my Instagram page at Ferrari Simm's Top three malls in Atlanta.

But you can't still think.

But I was just saying, back in the day, I used to go to North Lake Mall all the time.

Yeah.

First of all, your store and an American deli at that mall was top tier.

I mean I think that was the last two stories in that mall.

Yo. That mall used to be so ghost.

The only thing you could do while you're waiting on your jewelry is to go get some America dealing.

Now.

I used to see you used to see any and every celebrity in Waffie's jewelry.

Store and they would be righting them all.

But this is now, Wafi went, can we take it back?

Though, when did you start like jewelry or when did you say, like, how does it go?

Like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna be a jeweler.

How does Because you're our first intervieweek, correct me if I'm wrong that we're interviewing about the jewelry business.

Correct. I mean it was just ground up. It was I had access to jewelry.

My dad had a Kiosk in the mall, so I had access to his wholesalers. So I just started taking that merchandise, putting it online, selling it on marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and it was like, I mean, started with like, what

This, you know.

And that it was just purely e commerce. That's why we had the merchandise. When I started dealing with rappers, they were I would have like paddocks and aps in North Lake Mall.

Now these.

No one's buying that just walking around, you know, correct, you have to come in to buy one of those. And by me having those, it was so weird for them. They would be like, what is this doing here?

Why does this guy have all this stuff?

And it was because I was selling him online and I just used that store as like a retail outlet if somebody wants to come look at the piece. Otherwise they would all be in the safe. We would be you know, taking calls and selling them online. So it was like a weird mix that we ended up in North Lake mal and actually having the merchandise that people wanted to buy, like high end, you know, So that's where that's.

Why they pulled up.

Yeah, yeah, I mean you you definitely got the big board.

J My question, My next question is my bad, Betea. How do you get build a clientele as a jeweler from the ground up?

Yeah? So it's just all word of mouth, will you?

It's word of mouth and its relationship based, like I mean, because I was gonna say more more so this is what I meant. Did you like build relationships like you said with the up and coming wrappers and when they blew up, they stayed with you or did you like, how how did WiFi, Jewelry and Limited do it. I don't think it was ever strategic like it was. You know, you treat everybody coming in as a potential client that might spend.

You are very nice to people when they walk in.

Yeah.

So I mean it's like if you just use a standard and be consistent, you know, I think it works out in the end, and that's it's wasn't ever like, oh, this guy's blowing up, let me hit him up and let me try to get him now before that, It wasn't like that. I don't think it was ever strategic like that. It was so like organic and chill. The reason why I asked that is because it was a it was a trend to me, all the new rappers were coming to Waffi.

Because Yeah, and who came up with the word the Waffi way was that Quavo. I think it was takeoff, takeoff, long live, take off.

Wow.

I think it was just like he was just in the store one.

Day and I pulled up my phone and I was like, hey, let me do a quick video with whatever he bought that day. And he went on this little rand and I still have that video and it goes like he's like that way, Atlanta way, Waffy way, and it was just like that, and it was I don't even think I posted it, but it was. It was cool, and I hashtagged it and people called on Yeah, I don't think it's still a thing, but yeah, yes, the hell it is.

I mean we said it on the radio.

Every day I see other jewelers trying to do it like this way, that way, that way, you know. Yeah, but but yeah, it was definitely take off. And I remember vividly like it was him in the store, just vibing, you know, and it was like I saw my little jeweler. I looked at the videos because I was looking when he passed away. I was looking for some videos that, you know. And now iPhones are smart, like picks up everything about that one person. And I saw that video recently.

So now, who was somebody that came to your store that she was like, I can't I can't believe you know this person, this person actually knows about my company.

That's interesting question. Who would just pop out like I had? I think like.

I would.

I usually am in the back, right, I never really come to the front, so I don't see these people walking in, but I'll get text from my employees and be like, hey, this person's here, and I I remember like was taken aback when I think it was like two Chains or like Walker Flock or I think it was Walker Flock who came like unannounced, and you know, I grew up listening to his music and it was just usually the announced, right.

They'll hit me on.

DM be like I want to check you out, and uh those dms get forwarded to me immediately. And but like just showing up unannounced, it it's not that often, but yeah, those two come to mind.

They're just randomly just show up.

And I got a text for like this guy's in the store, and I'm like, wait, are you sure? And then now I have cameras, so I'm like, yeah, okay.

Okay, yeah look this, this this is how you know he's ball. He said.

Now I got cameras, I can just see who you know who's in the store today.

You should be I mean yeah, no, I mean like even like a little baby will come unannounced and uh be like oh he'll just come with like somebody who I knew was coming, like forty two Dugs coming and like, oh he's with baby and Rylo and everybody.

You know.

So it's like a whole crew that pulls up one day, you know.

Yeah, Okay, Now, was there a moment where you was like, Okay, I'm outgrowing the Northlake Mall.

I need my own space.

You know.

The North Lake Mall was like a lucky charm to me. I never really thought to leave. I was I was going to open a second store, but it was North.

Lake Mall that wanted me out.

And really, yeah, which is weird, right because you would think that I'm bringing in like good clients.

The majority of the business of them all.

Yeah, keeping American Deli alive, there's won't rule.

You go to Wifie and you hit the American Deli. You go to American Deli, put the order in th handle your little Wifie, you pick it up right park, you park by the food court. Okay, Now they were I guess they didn't like the type of clientele we were bringing.

You know, we have like arm guards.

We had like people coming in with guns, and it's normal when you were dealing with high value pieces to walk out with security or something like that.

You know, So I thought.

I mean, they sole a portion of that mall to Emory and.

It's just like their offices. So they thought they didn't geil.

Well so okay, wait, Memory the the healthcare healthcare.

Yeah, it's like their offices.

Inside the mall. Yeah.

Well it's converting. It's like a school too. There's a school there too. Yeah yeah, school.

Yeah.

So like there's saw like a J. C. Penny wing to one, the whole thing to one. God, then they converted inside.

Yeah.

When we went to.

Shoot some content one of them, I took a little trip down memory lane.

I was like, damn, it's not even here no more.

They like, we don't want basically, we don't want rappers.

Okay, so all right, man, so you moved to the new space. And I don't know if this was to commemorate what's what's the word commemorate the space?

A lot of shoots, A video with Cardi B in your store, right, that's fire.

Yeah, a lot of a lot of just a lot of has been around with us since day one. You know, I think I made her first chain. It was a little chain that said Mullah this one. She used to go by Mulatto R And uh.

Yeah, So she.

One of her managers, herself hit me up and we're like, hey, I want to shoot a video. And at that point she couldn't say who was it supposed to be in the video. It was like a hush hush thing, and she's like, can I use your space? And I would have said yes anyway, but then later I realized it was Cardi B with her, And yeah, it was like a whole day shoot. We had to close the store, but it's okay, you know, one day for sure.

And then yeah, they just shot it.

They had like a whole setup outside with their their their one of those caravans production and it's a small store, like I mean, the the show showroom is only one thousand square foot, so there was a whole production team. There's a director and there's like a lot of people. There's a tight space. And yeah, we made it work though.

It was cool.

Video came out fire too.

I know, yeah it did it did it put a good spin on things. But now it's like, no, it it looked good in.

The video for sure. Yeah I can see like they.

Had the ad placements in there and we had ours, so it worked out well.

Yeah, all right, so I gotta ask you a question why I need your help? Okay, Alisa.

Up, Okay, What are the difference in diamonds and should people be concerned with how clear the diamonds are? Like you got vvs vs, and then what's after that s I one, S I two, I one I two, and then you also have lab diamonds. There's lab diamonds, now, yeah, okay, what are the difference between these? So the I mean first the clarity correct Yeah, yeah, So there's four seas.

But it's but it is a real diamond.

It is a diamond Chemically it's a diamond. But there's ways to tell the difference. We have machines in their store that will pick up LAB grown diamonds, you know. Yeah, so I mean they don't. I always say that once they make a handheld this machine is big, like it's ten thousand dollars machine that most you know, the kids on the street, Okay, But eventually there will be one, yeah, one handheld machine that you could just pull up on somebody and say this LAB a natural yeah, natural yeah,

But should it should that matter? Should it matters?

Like it's up to you.

I mean, then you know you always had alternatives. If the guy who was wearing Mois and Nights, uh probably doesn't matters and nights and Nights a whole Moist Night's trash.

It's like, it's it's the things be shot at what I see am on Instagram?

Boy, and so so does what what is c zs okay? And that's that's fake. That's fake fake, and so is Mois and so Mois and Night.

But what is that? Is that a stone or stone? It's it's its own stone that.

It looks so shiny like glitter.

But that thing is too shiny.

It's shinier than I would say I've seen because I like, I like to look at diamonds. So I've seen a lab grow diamond and like a v V S and a VS. The lab grown looks nicer in quality than the VVS and the VS. Is that because it's lab grown.

No, the VBS VS.

The lab grown is graded on the same scale as diamonds are great. So you can have a VS lab grown and you can have a VVS natural. The VBS natural will shine more.

And what's a bad get back?

Get is a different cut of the diamond and it's still a diamond. You can cut diamonds in different shapes. You can cut them in the get cut, emerald cut, rating cut, cushion cut.

You've heard of that, yeah, you know, and doing around.

The round is the most popular. The round is the most expensive still, and so lab grown will lab growns you don't find included lab groans, okay, because the cutting and the making and the polishing of the diamond is all done by hand only the lab grown. The rough is made in the lab So if you get a bad rough, they're not going to go through the whole process of cutting it and making it perfect. That's all done by hand.

That's expensive to do.

They're just gonna throw that ship out and make a new one, you know, like because you can just make a new rough. And you've got colors because you got me these yellow canarios, right, it took you a minute to get these two.

Yeah, it's like we don't you know what I mean, You had to find them for me.

Yeah, it's like.

It's I don't have the sources that well in the colored stones as I do with natch white stones. So but it was what a couple more phone calls than usual.

Now, let me ask you this does Does the lab grown the lab diamonds?

Do you think that's eventually going to affect like the jury business it already?

Yeah, I think it is very much. I feel like the richest people are the ones who are like, man, I don't want to spend that much on this squear lab. No one's ever.

Gonna second guess me, you know, because everyone knows who I am or how much money I got. So I feel like those I mean, I see the I see the reasoning, you know, right, Yeah, there's no way to tell the difference visually. I've seen a lot of artists also say that they have a fake set of jewelry that they'll wear out of town. So like, if they're out of town and they're traveling, they're not going to take their real jury, they'll have a fake version of it.

Do people come to you for not so much artists?

Artists take pride in like, yeah, I'll wear my shit whenever I go, you know, like I don't. I don't need to make a fake version of it.

But I feel like like a.

Lady with a big engagement ring, I've had to make, you don't replicas, So when you know, because they're susceptible regardless of where they go. Usually they're with their you know, but they don't have security and stuff like that, so they don't want.

To risk taking.

In fact, certain sizes of diamonds, their insurance company makes you make a to get it in shore. They'll be like, hey, you need to get a replica so you know, when you travel, we need you to have that.

So it's once you get in a certain price point.

So yeah, we do that, and it's generally gonna be like either CZ live growns are not like cheap cheap, so it's not gonna be a live grown, but it's probably a CZ.

Got it.

I'm learning, I'm learning these.

I want to get into rolexes with you, man, because I got my we got we got our first rolex for you.

I'm not wearing my BT wearing.

Yeah, the rolex game is completely different than the diamond game.

Is it or is it not? Yeah? The rolex or the watch game. Yeah, I mean, watches.

Are so like available everywhere, right, Like especially world is a small place now, So you type in a model number of watch, you're gonna hit one hundred different sellers in your city that sell the watches. So it's a very competitive business, very competitive low margins, but you kind of.

Have to low margins, meaning you don't make a big profit.

No, no, like on a thirty thousand dollars watch, we'll make twenty five hundred if that, you know, which is not a great investment to prossy.

You know, watch the right right right?

So I mean if it sits on the shelf for six months, then it's actually not a goodbye. He'e what I'm saying, Like I could have used that thirty thousand feel true? Is it true that if when if you bust a watchdown, that loses value to the watch. That's a that's a good question. I think it's all depending on how many people are want a bust down. Like if you asked me that five years ago, I would say straight up no, you know, because five years ago people want it buzz down. So the demand is there,

You mean during COVID with the spike and all.

That, the price, I don't I feel like it was a one off thing and it didn't make any sense for a watch that is forty thousand retail to be selling for eighty thousand in the gray market. Gray market is outside of you know, anything reselling wise, it's called the gray market, and for it to be selling for double it it wasn't a sensible thing. But it did and people were buying it, you know, so it was I think that was a one off thing.

Now, how influential are these rappers when it comes to what type of jury people buy in the market?

Yea jury, I think very like I think the market trends are set by celebrities in general, not like ballplayers.

I would say.

Rappers streamers today, you know, like just celebrities in general.

I feel like.

You want to you know, like if Cardi b wears a Tiffany bracelet, I bet their cells go up. You know Van Cleef races, you know how there was a trend of people very popular.

Yeah.

I don't know who started that trend, but like you know, but it had to be one of these celebrities picking it up and introducing it to.

Market.

Yeah, a different market that they weren't used to seeing. You know, like Van Cleef has their regular clientele for one hundred years, but it didn't make it so mainstream until the last few years.

Yeah, because now you see every It's like once you see a big celebrity wear or something, then I said, okay, this is about to go up.

This is about to go up. Everybody's going to start wearing this now.

Yeah, I think there is a trend. Petech Philippe.

I remember I bought myself one in like twenty fifteen. It's a fifty seven eleven Nautilus, which is their basic model on the version that you guys see a lot. It's that cushion shape and I paid thirty K.

You know.

Now the watch is worth a hundred K.

But there was a this was like before I sold it. I didn't make that hundred I sold it too early. But but what I was saying is like before even COVID, because people were icing out Paddox and like there was mentions and songs and stuff like that, there was a direct correlation to its price increase, like that twenty eight was a forty you know, And I noticed that too, right the paddic Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they do. They will never say they do, but they do.

They definitely noticed that if a big rapper go out and shout them out and said this is what I'm rocking, Yeah, and they they sales are going to go up.

Man.

But the brands are so pretentious and like they like want to keep their origins the same. And I don't know if how they they noticed it. I wonder even I don't know how.

They react to it.

Is that the good thing?

That thing?

Like I don't know how they're actually in the back being like, hey, we want this publicity or we don't want this publicity. But I think AP for example, like they collab with rappers, like they just collabed last year, big for them, you know, before that they collabed with ball players like Lebron and I think I see the chay Z had an ap collab, so they're with it, Paddock. I haven't really heard any.

Kind of collapse you know what about Rolex. No, no collapse.

I only see Rolex collab with like big athletes, you know, because I go on the website and I see like the big tennis player, I forget his name, Uh one of the Yeah, yeah he had I don't know if it was his watch, but he was where it was wearing. You know what I'm saying on their website wimbled when you watch and.

You'll see Rolex clock.

So yeah, no, I do know exactly.

So he was the champion.

Whoever the champion is, they'll get their photo shoot. Ye where the I think it's that I forget the name of the.

But I've never seen them do or anything with like entertainers like I've never seen it.

I've seen entertainers customized, but I've never seen Rolex do a partnership or a collapse.

That's interesting only athletes.

Now, some rappers gonna have a deal pretty soon with Roles. Don't know, they're gonna say that I was the first rapper, I don't.

Role, don't care. Rolex is like Ferrari, You're you're gonna come to me whether you want to or not.

That's King King still Yeah, okay, all right, so uh two more things waffy.

First thing is like, is there ever like a there's never like jewelry beef between jewelers, right or I'm just ask you what.

You can say, no comment.

I mean, I think it's like it's a competition.

Okay, but there's I mean, do you guys often know each other privately, sometimes like friends or friends.

I've been friends with every jeweler I've met.

You know.

In fact, I have jewelers who will call me now and be like, hey, is this fake? Is it real? Is this you know, like asking me for advice?

And I'm very upfront with it because I had somebody that I got advice from when I was coming up, you know, so it's just yeah, sure, don't buy that for this price.

This is the price it sells for. Don't pay more than that.

You know.

Even today, I get people I whole sale too, so to other jewelry stores. So if they need something, they'll call me for sale. It's you know, a sale is a sale. I understand it, you know. So I'll sell it to them at a wholesale price and they'll sell it to their retail. So you can't beef and like really be closed minded in this business and expect to grow because you're just gonna you know, you have to work together.

Is there is there ever any jewelers in a business you have to say nobody name that you know that you like, Hey, man, don't don't buy from them them over there because they selling?

Yeah?

No man? Or do you not say anything? I tend not to. You know, there's two ways of selling jewelry. You can.

You can hate on the competition and sell it that way and be like, my stuff's better, and or be like, hey, I like what you purchased, but look at what I got to you know. I choose the latter always. It's like, just look at my price point, look at what I can do if you feel like it's better.

Than chop with me. If you're not, you know, and you let your your your jewelry or your work like kind of talk. And I prefer it that way.

Now, how did your dad come up with with with these games?

My dad, man, that's his bienness thing like at dinner table as growing up, he would have two questions for me and my sister each like, you know, some random thing he thought of or learned that day, and he would ask us a question, or it could be just the repeated questions. You know, what is a plus beat the whole cube? I know that back of my head a square plus, you know, like because I've regurgitated that so many times. And but yeah, that's been his thing.

It's still viral.

Actually, you've seen that one, the P and B one. Yeah, and that's the same thing. Yeah, that's the same same thing. Like now he's kind of running out now.

But man, you got two guys the feeling for you. We got you. We're gonna implement that.

I'm gonna go g B T chat T. I didn't even used it yet.

I haven't tried it.

Every everybody's using I haven't even tried it yet.

I haven't tried asking them for riddles. I bet they would be you'll probably get a limit. You'll get an unlimited amount of riddles. Too easy. All right, man, We appreciate you.

Man.

We got to definitely do a part two.

Sir.

I just you're our first jeweler we ever interviewed. I felt like, this is cool. We appreciate you. We do have something called mental health check in. Hey, guys, Waffy from Jewelry and Limited just wanted to say, you know, stay stay true to what you guys want to do and uh and work hard.

Man.

There's no replacement for hard work. It's coming. Just just stay true. Yeah, and then when the when the bag get there, shot with the Waffy way