Coffeez with Joe Shalaby - Building a Legacy in Diamonds ft. Gabe & Danny Arik | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

In this episode of Coffeez for Closers, we sit down with Gabe and Danny Arik—brothers, entrepreneurs, and the power behind Happy Jewelers, one of the most respected names in the jewelry world.Born into a family legacy that began in Istanbul and continued in L.A.’s diamond district, Gabe and Danny turned a humble manufacturing background into a nationwide brand trusted by celebrities, collectors, and everyday customers alike. From taking risks on inventory most jewelers wouldn’t touch to becoming early adopters of social media and influencer marketing, they’ve redefined what it means to run a luxury jewelry business with authenticity and heart.We talk about:- How they scaled from Fullerton to worldwide recognition- Why reputation in the jewelry game means everything- The truth behind million-dollar watch trades and the real risks no one talks about- Raising kids with grit, balancing family legacy, and why they’ll never sell out to private equityIf you’ve ever wondered what it takes to make it in a high-stakes, high-trust business—or how to keep your values intact while building an empire—this one’s for you.Top producers at E Mortgage Capital are earning more per deal—with faster closings, better tech, and no junk fees.👉 Learn more: https://join.emortgagecapital.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this business, it's common to inherit a store. But Gabe and Danny Eric, they inherited a legacy. And you can buy a million of ours with a product on a signature. You walk out with the product and you do terms afterwards. Built on their father's vision from Istanbul to LA, Happy Jewelers is now one of the most respected names in the business. Not just because of what they sell, but because of how they treat people. Our store is different again.

People like to come into the store to shop for the experience. shop for the experience. We talk inventory, immigration, legacy, risk, family, and what it means to stay grounded in a business obsessed with flash. From Rolex to Richard Mill, from Third World Hustle

to World Wuxury, welcome to coffees. Thank you for having us, Joe. Thank you guys for being on the show. I appreciate you guys both jumping on. Today we're going to just jump right into it. I like to start every show off the same way with every single owners. Guys, what's your morning routine? You probably have

different ones, so four kids each. Yeah, four kids each. I mean, obviously, when it's during school time, every morning I drop off all my kids, come home, hang out with the wife, go to the gym for a little bit, and, you know, and then head into work. And you gotta get here early.

You get here at 8 o'clock every day, so you. No, me and Danny get here a little bit later. I mean, after, like, you know, we've been doing this for so many years, dude. So, like, after 25 years being in the business, I get here at like 9.30, Ashley. But our day starts. You know, our day starts at like 6 a.m. phone calls, emails,

yeah, text messages, setting the whole crew up and everything like that. But, yeah, I wake up, take the kids to school. I know it doesn't show, but I actually do work out. We all have to, man. We're entrepreneurs, you know. Yeah, you got to take care of your health. It's good for mental health, too, you know what I mean? Not even for physical.

So you guys have been doing this for 25 years now. 25 years, yeah. Our family has been in the business for over 50 years. So we come from a manufacturing background. So my dad owned and operated a large manufacturing. Started in Turkey and then came to downtown L.A. And then about 25 years ago, he founded Happy Jewelers because he wanted to get into the retail space.

And that's when Gabe started that. Nice. Now, Gabe, you guys have always been here, right? Yeah, we've always been in Fullerton. My uncle's had a couple of stores here in Fullerton. and they started their business in 1990. And then I worked for my uncles in Fullerton and for my dad. And then in 2000, when I was 18 years old,

I decided to open up my own shop. Happy Jewelers. That's when it got established. But me, I've been, you know, grown up since I was like six, seven years old. I've been around jewelry and the business all my life. You both grew up in the business now. How do you know you're not just carrying the torch, but you're kind of like rewriting the rules of jewelry.

You know, we're very blessed, me and Danny both. We work very hard. So a lot of people in the industry, they have a lot of respect for me and Danny and our family because, you know, reputation in the jewelry business is everything. And people like other jewelers around the world will always ask us like, hey, you know, how do we, like that been in business for longer,

that are older than me and my brother, they're like, hey, they'll ask us for advice. And we always give them the best advice. And number one thing I always tell them, like, hey, the success of happy jewelers is very importantly, people say, like, you know, definitely customer service and, you know, being presence on social media and having good inventory. That's very important. You guys are dominating the space when it comes to social media in comparison to your competitors. Who is it that like which one of you is the one who had the foresight to really just

take social media by storm? It was me but now like Danny is the face on social media. Eight years ago, it was like eight years ago. That's funny because you like, you know, we started doing like, you know, social media posts like on Instagram and stuff like that. I'm like, dude, what is this? You know? And like, this guy got excited because, you know, one, two leads came from it. He sold a couple engagement. He's like, oh my God, this is amazing. When I hired a whole crew, started like blasting it. But that's what made. makes us different, we're aggressive. Yeah.

You know, when we see something happen, well, we're willing to take that risk. And that's what kind of sets us aside from other jewelers and other people in the space, you know, because in our business, inventory is key, right? You have to have inventory, but to have inventory, you've got to spend the money. Yeah. You know, we're not a, it's kind of hard to explain. It's not like any other business. You want to, you want inventory, you know, small little tray of goods can cost you, you know,

100 grand, 200 grand, to fill up a store. you need a few million dollars. And that's what kind of sets me and gave it apart since we were young. We were always willing to take that risk, but we also worked hard behind it to kind of fulfill it and minimize that risk, essentially. So what is it that gave you that foresight to take those big risks? Like you showed me a tranche of watches. Like, how do you know that that's going to pencil out?

We have confidence, you know, and we know what we're capable of. Confidence and also we I mean we're smart obviously I don't want to say we're smart I shouldn't say that I mean we understand After being in the business for so long We understand the space We know what sells

We know at what price we have to buy the goods at And we know the outlet to put it into Because we have the outlet for it We have the customer base I mean I think we have a great Sales team I mean our we have a sales team of like 20 We have 20 people that are selling our product

In store all day And we ship worldwide, even though we have one store, but we really reach out to the whole country. We ship out about 150 to 200 boxes a day. Just people will call us from New York, Florida, Iowa. Hey, I saw you on Instagram or I saw you. I watch you on YouTube. I'm looking for this watch. I mean, some watches from $3,000 to a million-dollar watches we're selling just over the phone.

How can you do that? it's because of our credibility when when you know i don't know like for me if i was to buy a a really really high end piece just like without even seeing it you got to really trust that person or that establishment that you're buying it from i mean it's crazy like i would have never thought i could be selling like you know a 300,000 dollar watches to a guy in uh idaho that's a big watch collector he's looking for a paddock nautilus i mean I'm not saying anything about the state of Idaho. It's just like you can't really, who's going to have that paddock?

Yeah. So he has to do his research. He has to buy it from a reputable place either from, you know, Southern California or, you know, New York or Florida. And people always choose us because of our presence online and because of our reviews online. And they just trust the name, happy jewelers. If it comes from happy, you know, the watch is going to be in perfect.

condition and the paperwork is going to be legit. It's a big deal when you're wiring $300,000 and then you're getting the watch in two days. This is a business of not just truly, this is like art. People look at this like art. So what's like the biggest myth about this business that people don't really know? Because it seems like everyone wants to be a part of this. But what's the biggest myth you think that people should know? Yeah, everybody wants to be a jeweler, right?

Like they just like they all see all these. The glitz, the glamour. Yeah, exactly. Celebrities, yeah, big chains. And like, everybody wants to become a part of it. It just, it takes a lot of money. You know, we've been in business for 50 years. I mean, you know, we've been in Fullerton for 30 years, but we've been in the business for 50 years.

You know, we're very, very blessed, very, you know, we have money to back it up. Like, you can't just open up a jewelry store with a couple hundred thousand dollars. You know, it's very, very hard. Obviously, yeah, money. I mean, you need the funds to be able to do it. But the jewelry and diamond businesses, one of the probably only businesses left, that you can walk in and you can buy a million dollars

with a product on a signature. And you walk out with the product and you do terms afterwards, you know, whether you paid in two months, three months, four months. So within the jewelry business, you have to have the backing of your suppliers, whether it's site holders, whether it's this guy or that guy.

if you don't have that. You know, like today, let's say you said, Danny, you know, I'm looking for a ring. I need a half a million dollar stone, and I want two to three to pick from. Not any jewelry store is able to just bring in three, four stones for you in that size of that caliber, just for you to view. You have to have the name, you have to have the reputation,

and you have to have the trust of the supplier to be able to send you that item on memo or consignment just for your client to see. That reputation and that brand authority you guys have established over decades. Decades. Decades. It didn't just happen overnight. No, not at all.

I mean, sometimes it's like, you know, you have a client, he wants a million-dollar stone, or he wants a half-million-dollar watch. But the guy wants to see it, right? Obviously, like, he doesn't want to spend a million dollars, or he wants, like, we have the ability to bring that in because of our name. But that's because of, yeah, you said, decades of keeping your word. One thing I'm intrigued about is how the transition of COVID. I mean, COVID, we saw watches double,

triple in value now they're coming back down. How did that impact your business? Was it, you know, positive? Was it negative? Did allow you guys to see a boom? It was a positive, of course. Yeah, I mean, it was a positive when watches went up, but a lot of people don't realize this within us dealers that we were also paying big money to get that product in. So it's not like, you know, yeah, okay, we had the watch at 20 grand. We bought it at 20 grand and we were selling it at whatever, 22, 23,000, $2,000 before COVID. And then that watch went up to 35, 40 grand within a year, a year and a half. We didn't hold that inventory. We were selling that inventory and we were re-buying it. So it got to a point where sometimes it was a little frustrating because you would have a watch

that you'd buy for $25,000. You sell it for $28 and then to replace it, it costs you 30. The prices were moving like housing, you know. Yeah, they were just going up. It was crazy. I mean, it got to the point where sometimes like you would like, my brother was like, you need to turn the inventory faster. You need to turn the inventory faster. I'm like, I don't really want to because by the time it sits there for a couple days, by the time I bring it out, it went up 10 grand. So I'm like, what's the rush, you know? I mean, with us, that's like the thing about, like, me and my brother and our team.

We have a huge team, production team, watch team. You know, you buy an item. It doesn't matter. You buy it for $10 and you sell it for $12. Our margins are very, very small, but we just move it. You know, we don't buy something for it to sit in the safe. You got to buy it and sell it. And COVID prices were going up, like,

Every day, you know, you buy something for 10 bucks, you sell for 12. You know, a month later, you were replacing for, replacing it for 14. It was nuts. But our motto is to buy and sell, and that's it. But also, what we did after COVID, you know, prices were like, I don't know, let's give a good example on a 590 rose gold on a bracelet. At the height, 450,000. Wow.

We had a few that we were stuck, not stuck with. they were like, you know, that we owned. So we took a lot of big losses. A lot of the people in the industry, you know, they have money to back it up, but they didn't move it fast enough. You know, we took the loss. If something costs us $400,000,

and it went down to $300,000, we're like, all right, we're going to reprice it, $300, take the loss, and just move it. Bring the money in, just turn it and burn it. That's just the way it is. I didn't know that they collapsed like that. Oh, huge. That 15, I think that's like the biggest, one of the biggest ones.

How much is it right now? 160? There's an AP perpetual black ceramic skeleton that I, that I have right now, that we're selling for about, around 330 or 330,000. At the top of the market, that watch was 850,000. And people were buying it. Yeah. And people were buying it.

And people were stocking it. Like, if I had that watch, and let's say I paid 700 grand, a dealer would pay me 800 grand for that watch. And what is it right now? Right now, it's in the, the 330, 335 more. What do you think was the, why was, why did that happen? There was so much money.

There was so much wealth built. Yeah. And also like crypto too. The crypto space really, I mean, made overnight millionaires. I mean, some guys made tens of millions. Some guys made hundreds of millions. But also within businesses, right? I'm sure you guys saw it too within your business.

Yeah. We were surging like crazy. Yeah. I mean, COVID created wealth, right? Before COVID to now, that $100 is not the same $100. No. Right? And there's $100 like $30 now.

Yeah. So I think that's what created it. It's just money wasn't the same. You know, before COVID, it's like you sold a $40,000 watch. You're like, wow. Like, hell yeah. Like you give yourself a pat on the back. You know what I mean?

Like that was a good sale or like a $30,000 ring. Where during COVID, it was just like there was daily. Yeah. Multiple times a day, 40, 50, 80, 90. It was like almost like money wasn't real. Money loss is value during COVID. Money loss is value. Yeah.

Right? I mean, did you guys... Well, mortgage industry, we all know, boom. The rates went down at two and a half percent. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Money was free. Yeah.

So with your dad starting the business, he started it in Istanbul. So, you know, he's... What is it from your dad's legacy that you guys kept sacred? And what is it that you guys moved away from? Me and my dad and Danny, what my dad taught us is like, you know, to be very appreciative. be respectful, don't cheat anyone, treat your employees like you would treat your family members, take care of your employees, and take care of your business. You know, be there every day. You know, in our industry, if you just, you know, open up a shop and you're not at the store taking care of it,

it's not going to work, you know? You got to go to work and me and Danny come to work every single day and deal with, you know, customers and deal with employees. I mean, if you're not there and you're not taking care of your business, nothing is going to succeed. And my dad used to always tell us that. You know, you want something to succeed. You have to be there. You have to put the effort into it.

Because we've seen a lot of kids take over empires that now today aren't worth anything because they weren't there. They didn't take care of the business. It was just given to them. And, you know, they ate all the money. And all the money's gone. So, I mean, I think that's for any business. You know, you just got to take care of it.

And it goes back to grade school, right? You treat others the way you want to be treated. There's no secret recipe to business. You know what I mean? Yeah, it takes a little bit of brains. It takes a little bit of being strategic. But at the end of the day, if you take care of people, that word is going to spread like wildfire, right?

You have a customer come in. You know, the other day, a guy came in yesterday, and he bought a watch from L.A. And he came in for me to authenticate it. And I knew the person he bought it from. I took him in the back. I authenticated it for him. I sized this watch.

The guy was so appreciative. And he asked me a question. He goes, why were you so nice to me? I didn't buy the watch from you. You didn't profit. You came in. You had a smile on your face. You're the business owner.

I could see you have like 70 employees. And you're sitting here. You're talking to me. And you did all that stuff for free for me. I said, because, you know, when you walk out of here, you have that feeling. You're probably going to tell 20 of your friends. Whoever you talk to today, tomorrow, the next day. You're probably going to be like, man, happy jewelers is the best.

Happy Jewelers is the best. And I said, that's probably going to bring me 15, 20 customers. And over time, that builds. And from those 15, 20 customers, when they come and you take care of them, you have a smile on your face, eventually you're going to become successful. And that's any business. And that's what we took from my dad. Tradition is one thing.

What have you guys changed from your dad's legacy? Definitely, yeah. So, like, you know, me and dad, I feel like me and my brother take bigger risks than my dad. I would hate to say it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, sometimes, like, he would come into the store because we still have the factory. When he used to walk in and, like, he was just always very proud of us. And whenever he used to see everybody, like, he's like, you know, because he's a Middle Eastern dad, you know what I mean?

I'm sure, Joe, you have Middle Eastern dad. He's like, wow, so many employees, you know, you got to, like, you know, too much, you know, right? Like, these boys, he's like, with these boys, you never know. If I don't keep him grounded, they'll come home with a helicopter one day. They'll park in front of the house and tell me, Dad, it was a good deal. Don't worry, we're going to make money. So now we've entered the A of AI,

and now there's AI design in jewelry. Now, are you guys leveraging AI design? Are you guys still doing like handcrafted craftsmanship? And how is AI changing the landscape of your business? Look, I know there are some jewelry companies out there that are using AI. For us, we do all of our designs by CAD, but it is by a person behind the camera doing it because I don't know like

AI for the jewelry business and the watch business even like you know we have a website a watch listed online right and a customer reaches out we take that conversation off the web and we put it to one of our salespeople because it's a personal experience I don't see a computer being able to sell you know an engagement ring to somebody

which I'm sure can it I'm sure it can but I just we haven't you know honestly We haven't used a lot of AI in our industry yet. Definitely it's going to take over a lot of the industry, but it's going to be very difficult for the jewelry industry and the watch business. I just don't see how it could take it over. The value is in the handmaking of the product, right? And the craftsmanship of it.

So in the watch business, I don't see AI affecting it because a person is not going to want to buy a half a million-dollar watch by a person that made it from a robot. They want the history behind it. Yeah. Right? And for the diamond business, I mean, AI, I could see it probably doing stuff for a diamond setting and maybe like, yeah, for sure, diamond setting and making the designs. But I just, again, like, you know, crafting the piece, it has to be done by a human.

You know what I mean? Like just, I just don't. I don't know. I mean, there's no way all these, you know, setters and jewelers that we have, I don't think, look, I know. a machine could set the stones inside the piece, but in making it, there has to be... Why? I just don't, I don't see it.

I don't want to believe in it, because I don't know, like... You're like, we don't want to be taken over by robots. Yeah, exactly. I mean, look, I think AI has incredible... I mean, I don't think we realize the power of it and what it can do, but do I think... What are the conferences saying that you guys are going to? They don't talk about it.

JCPK was there were they they had a few conferences they don't even know yet I just don't like they don't even know what it could bring to the jewelry industry and the watch business you know there's no like really big confidence maybe like you know AI could create you a design that you want but I don't think you could craft it you know what I mean like to sit and make it into a piece of jewelry I don't want AI to take over for sure because like I don't know every customer that comes in to buy a wedding ring or an engagement ring, I think they just want that special touch to be done by a human, right? You don't want something to be mass produced by a machine, then it doesn't make it special anymore. Yeah. Right? I mean, I just, again, like, I'm not, like, I have the, we spend a lot of money on technology, on, like, you know, on our, like, programming on everything. We do, but I just don't like AI.

I don't like AI. One thing for sure, early adoption is crucial. whatever industry, you know, for us, we're adopting AI, anything I hear about. Yeah. No, I mean, early adoption is good. Early adoption of, like, when we, when we started doing social media, when, like, Instagram was nothing, we started, like, doing Instagram right away, like, not many, even, not many jewelers had Instagram. We were doing it, and we were, like, one of the first jewelers to work with influencers and clabbing with, like, social media influencers. We were, we were one of the first, actually.

But you're right. I mean, even though I hate AI in the jewelry industry, we have to adopt to it immediately. But again, like, I just, I don't know. Can you see? Like, for you, right? A paddock fleet watch, how can you... No, a watch you can't do it.

The watch business, I don't think AI will affect it at all. Maybe for these, like, smaller brands that are mass-producing watches, but for a high-end Swiss watch, I have no worry with AI. I don't think anything's going to do with that. They're always going to be handcrafted. They're always going to be handcrafted because that's, that's what you're paying for. You're paying for somebody to sit there

and handcraft the item. But for a jewelry piece, I mean, I'm looking at my staff over here and they're setting them. I just don't see robots there. Setting them, you know what I mean? Can you imagine? Yeah.

I don't know. I mean, take it back to my brother's point in the jewelry business. I think it's the meaning of somebody sitting there in hand-setting your piece and making a special for you. Now, with you guys taking Happy Jewelers National, but the brand's,

still feels like it's a personal brand. What are like the behind the scenes tensions in growing fast while staying authentic? I mean, look, growing fast is not easy, right? You're going to have a lot of hiccups. You're going to have a lot of road bumps. You're going to have to do a lot of changes within your business to accommodate to the growing. But the family side of the business, the authentic side of the business with us will never change. I mean, we only hire, I mean, even to our employees become like family, right? It's not like a name on a piece of paper. You know, when we hire somebody, we bring them in and we make sure they have the same values as us because walking into a jewelry store is very intimidating, right? So you always want to be

able to walk in with a smile on your face. And yeah, that part will never change. I'm never worried about that. You know, me and Danny are here every day at the store, talking to every customer. It doesn't matter if you come in here for like a, you know, $20, hey, fix my rope chain, you're here spending a million dollars. We literally treat everybody the same. We take care of everybody and, you know, every customer that walks through the door, we treat them the same. It doesn't matter, you know, who you are.

And that's what makes us who happy jewelers is because we treat everybody the same. And we always talk about, like, a lot of private equity companies will approach happy jewelers. They want to buy the name. They want to be partners with us. but I just, I can't let it go. I won't let it go because it's my family business, it's my dad's legacy. But wouldn't that help you scale your business?

It would, but I just, they would take too much control. They would take too much control. I think they would like, you know, get rid of half the people that work here. A lot of people ask that, like, oh, well, why wouldn't you guys solve a portion of the company and scale? But what makes Happy Jewelor special is the fact that we're here, right? 30, 40% of the deals wouldn't be able to get done.

unless me and my brother are actually here doing the transaction because we're different, right? Guy will come in, he'll buy a $200,000 dollar diamond, we'll take a watch and trade, we'll take gold in trade, we'll take diamonds and trade. I mean, we make the deal happen. If you go open up a store and, you know, we pay sales tax in multiple states because we do so much business out of state, right? We do the volume we do, we probably do it for 30 retail stores out of one location. But if you open up a store, let's say in Las Vegas, where we're, we're We're very famous, right? We have a lot of customer based in Vegas.

If our customer walks into Vegas, I guarantee they'll walk in one time to happy jewelers over there and they'll make the three and a half hour drive over here because it's not the same feeling. It'll be completely different, very corporate run and we don't like that. So what's it like running a business together

with your brother? Well, when we were younger, we used to butt heads a lot, we were at each other's throats. But as the years went by, because we used to both run everything together, right? Diamonds, jewelry, watches, We kept it all the same.

But as the years went on, he kind of took over the diamond jewelry manufacturing space, and I kind of took over the watches, and I made us get along. He stays in his lane. Exactly. I stay my lane. Like, you're the face of the brand now? No, I mean, on social media, yeah. On social media, yeah, I would say I'm more of the face on it.

But within the store, I would say Gavis. Even though I'm the better looking brother, I should be the, Face on social media too. He's not good on the camera as a problem. Yeah, yeah. I'm a better talker. Yeah, for sure. You immigrated at what age?

You came from Turkey? Yeah, Turkey. I was born in Turkey at 13. Okay. 13 years old. Wow. And Danny was four. Four.

Yeah, yeah. We came at the same age. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, what do you think the biggest mistake is that you guys made with happy jewelers? And how did you guys recover from it together? mistakes in a sense of like within the business we didn't really make too many mistakes but

mistakes within like you know sometimes you make a mistake on a purchase right I mean you just got to learn from it yeah yeah like yeah we do a lot of that it still happens like you know what's the biggest loss you guys took on a purchase I would say like maybe 150,000 on a watch but we take it we take it like a man and and take the loss don't tell dad yeah exactly Like $150,000 to him back in the day how he's processing that $150,000, just like bankrupt them. It's part of business, right? We learn from it. So, like, sometimes, you know, I still make mistakes still today.

Sometimes I take risk. Like, you know, I was showing you the watch in the back, the Turbion. Yeah. Right? You know, there's very few percentage of jewelers or watch dealers that will actually buy that watch and stock it and put the money up for it. But there's certain watches where it's not like a Rolex, right? There's no value to it.

It's just kind of like what you think it's worth, right? Because there's microbands out there. There's independent watchmakers where the retail is, let's say, 30 grand, but the watch is worth 200 grand. And when you're buying it, you're kind of gauging the market. Like at that time, like, all right, I mean, I guess I'll pay 80 grand for it. And I think I might be able to get 110, 120. Whereas you buy it and they're like, oh, man, yeah, that one's not a good model.

You know, the industry didn't really react to it well. And it's worth 50 grand. You know, but then there's times where you buy it for 80 based on your gut, and it's worth 150. It can happen, but those are risks that you have to take and you get the reward or you don't get the reward, which we mitigate our losses, obviously. We're sharp enough to...

It's a tough business because when I was talking to watch resellers, they told me like, oh, like a company like Jacob and Coe has no resale value. No. And why is that? Like, he's able to sell his watches at jewelry stores brand new, 200 grand, but the resell market's like 10. Yeah, I mean, look, so the resale value on Jacobs is you're going to lose probably have the value when you walk out with it, when you buy it brand new. But if you look at

Jacob's marketing, the guy's a genius. Right? You look at every celebrity, you know, you go to these like Instagram pages like, you know, Celeb Watch Spotter and all these Instagram. And when they're showing these celebrities wearing the watches, if you really look at it, out of the 10 posts they do, three of the celebrities are wearing Jacob and companies. The guy is very smart. It's like Richard Mill, right? Why did Richard Mill explode recently? And it's not one of the, even the oldest watch companies because they're marketing geniuses. They know exactly who put the watch on and they know exactly how to do it. And that watch is no different than the Hubello you said you're not impressed with. I know exactly. And Hubello has been in business for, has been in business for way longer than

Richard Mill. I think Richard Mill has been around for 20 years. And, you know, Richard Mill and Jacob and Company, their marketing is incredible. No brand in the world has done what Richard Mill and Jacob and Company has done. It's incredible. I mean, they did an amazing, amazing job. Yeah, they just blew up like during COVID. Well, yeah, he's been in business for a very long time, you know, but his watch brand just exploded, exploded.

And I actually love his watches. I really, really do. They're very unique and one-of-a-kind with everything he does. He does do one-of-a-kind pieces. Oh, he does. Do you guys carry, you know, Richard, Mill, Jacob and Co. We have literally every brand you could think of at Happy Jewelers.

That's why people come see us from all over the world. People will fly in from, you know, England, Kuwait, Dubai, Germany, India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, just to come to Happy Jewelers, just to see the inventory that we have because you can't just walk into a watch store and try on a watch. It's crazy, right? You know? Unbelievable. But it's unbelievable.

Yeah. Yeah, and go ahead, Named. Yeah, I mean, within the watch space, people will fly all over the world because, you know, we have the Richard Mills for half a million in stock, 400,000 in stock, 200,000 in stock. I mean, we've had Richard Mills for $1.5 million, 2 million. So you guys have those here, Richard Mills. Yeah, yeah, we have them in the back in the safe. I mean, we keep them in the vault. I just don't see the value in those.

I just don't understand. I don't know how people, I don't understand how people do it. I mean, look, Richard Mill is, how can I say it's almost like a symbol of wealth. Right? You just got to wear the watch and it just shows money. Now, you guys are selling status symbols in a world obsessed with image, right? That's like what we sell. How do you guys stay grounded in authenticity when everything around you is screaming like flash? Like, how do you remain authentic?

You know, it's funny. People ask how they go, well, how do you feel? You know, you have one of the most successful jewelry or so I don't really think about it. You know, like I don't really think about like when I sell a watch for a hundred grand, I don't think like, oh my God, I just made, you know, 40 grand or $40. 50 grand. I don't look at, you know, my profit at the end of the month and say, oh my God, I made this much money. For us, it's just, it's a business, it's a thrive, it's the high of it. You know, me and Danny, we both come from very humble beginnings, and we're told to this day, we just, you know, take care of our family, go home every, every night, wake up in the morning, come to work and go back, and, you know, we're just humble. And I think we'll never,

that's one thing about me and Danny. Everyone will tell you, it doesn't matter what we do. and who we are or how much we have will never change. Yeah. That's our third world mentality. Yeah, exactly. You know, it's like... No, yeah, exactly. I mean, to be...

You know, even thinking about it, like, you know, I see these people, like, out every night, leaving their kids, like, home, like... That's great. You know, from this gala to another gala and to this and that, I'm like, dude, it's crazy. I mean, we do, at Happy Jewelers,

we do a lot of fundraisers. Like, you know, we donate to a... a lot of very good charities in Orange County and LA County. But, you know, we're part of it, for sure. We do everything we can't donate, but we never show up to any of it. We sent our employees, actually. It's funner that way, in my opinion. Yeah.

Yeah. That's why we've got a lot of kids. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, right. So big luxury brands have unlimited budgets. What's the one thing you two do differently than the big giant companies? In the industry, because we're here every day, you could walk in here with, you know, let's say your Panorai watch.

Like, hey, Gabe, I'm tired of this. I want something else. I want to buy something for my kids or my girlfriend or my wife. You could trade that in and pick up a necklace and walk out with some cash, like under like five minutes. Very, very easy. Nobody will do anything like that. You walk into a jewelry store, any jewelry store. You walk in with your watch.

nobody's going to trade you for some cash and some jewelry it's incredible like you could walk in here I would say like what makes us different is we make deals happen here

every day you could walk in here with like you know your 10 carat diamond and walk out of here with three watches and some cash and you know I mean from that aspect yeah and also from a marketing aspect I mean

we do a lot of YouTube We do a lot of IG, but our main thing is we work a lot with a lot of influencers, and we work with a lot of organizations like the MLB Housewives. You know, we have any time they're over here playing the Angels or the Dodgers, you know, we'll invite a bunch of the housewives from the Major League Baseball to come over here and do a sip and shop. You know, we have champagne, hors d'oeuvres. They'll come in.

You just won the championship. Buy me a ring. Yeah. We actually did the championship ring for the wives and the staff, right? Yeah, for Dodgers. It's 24 World Series. They won the Dodgers won the championship, obviously. That's my team.

You guys did the rings? No, we didn't do the men's rings. We did the ladies' rings. So we custom designed it with all the wives, and we literally custom made it. We'll show you a picture of it so you could put it up to. So all the wives got a World Series rings, and they got it before their husbands or their boyfriends.

They're really cool rings. That's cool. Let's fast forward 10 years. How are you guys grooming the next generation? That's a really good question. I'm like, you know, me and Danny both, we bring our kids to work. Like, just like the way me and Danny were going to work with my dad when we were, you know, seven, eight, nine, ten-year-old.

I'm bringing my daughters, my 17-year-old, 13-year-old, and my boys are coming to, like, they're 10 and 7. They're coming to work so they could see what we do and take it over, you know. Danny brings his daughter's... I do, yeah. I mean, they'll walk around with the ring trying to sell it to customers. You know, they count the money.

They look at the product. You know, we explain to them what it is, you know, whether it's a round diamond, Princess Cut Diamond, whether it's prong or channel. I mean, look, my kids can do whatever they want. If they want to take over the business, I mean, I would love for that.

If they want to go be a doctor, or lawyer, or whatever it is they want to do as long as they're happy, it's going to make me happy. But for grooming the next generation, I mean, our business is here to stay and it's not going anywhere. and it's always going to be a family business.

And I think we've already disrupted the jewelry and the watch industry. We want everyone to succeed in the business. And we help a lot of jewelers, you know, that are like, you know, a mile away from us. Like, they'll definitely call us and like, hey, Gabe, what do you think about this? Because we've been around for so long. They're like, they know we're very approachable people. So we help the people in the industry to be successful. I give them advice all the time.

Do this, do that. Like, you know, happy jewelry's customers are going to come to me. Their customers are going to go to them. Everyone needs to eat. And we want everyone to eat. So that's really important. Now, I got a couple questions pivoting a little bit towards family because we all have kids. And one thing you guys were blessed with is a dad came.

You guys are both third world immigrants as am I. And we've maintained that third world mentality to this day. How are you guys instilling that same level of grit and tenacity and grind into your children. My kids always get mad at me because I lecture him a lot. You know what I mean? Because, you know, we're... You're a lecturer.

Yeah. I lecture his kids. I don't know. Again, like, I came here when I was 13 years old. I saw a lot. I want my kids to be very humble, to work, you know, to just to be good people and be good to other people. That's really important.

You know what I mean? respect and be appreciative. That's why I put it, like I tell my kids that every single day, so they get tired of me, I think. Like that, every time you talk to us, you lecture us. I mean, look, we teach our kids the value of money.

You know, we go to church every Sunday. So we distill that big time into them, which I think, you know, if they grow up within the church, God willing, they'll be, you know, good people. You know, that's the main thing. It's for us, just like, be good people, treat others well, and be respectful. I mean, it's really the key.

Yeah, I mean, we try to do the best we can. But one thing we struggle, you know, like, I grew up poor, you know, like my kids did not. So, you know, my kids get to play football games with people that won, you know, you know, NFL. It's like you want to give them the best. They're being coached by like the bus. Yeah, like I never had one. a private coach. Yeah.

You want to give them everything. You want to give them the best. And sometimes, you know, my wife gets mad at that, me too, because they're like, you know, we'll go to Barnes and Noble's, you know, and they'll pick out toys. And Barnes & Noble's, the toys are really expensive. But I was like, why would you get it at Barnes and Noble's when we can go somewhere else?

Or why would you get them eight books when you could get them four? Why would you do this? And I'm like, I don't know, she's right. Yeah. But, you know, I'm there once a week. Yeah. You know, so it's like. Yeah, me and Danny definitely, we're very, like, we like to spoil.

our kids and our wives definitely keep us grounded. Me and Danny are both married to two sisters and we're very blessed with her. Two sisters as well? Yeah. Two brothers married two sisters? Exactly. We're very blessed with our wives. They're very, yeah, they're really, really amazing woman. Also Assyrian? Also Assyrian, yeah.

Man, you guys kept the bloodline. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's rare. Yeah, that's our, actually for me too, like I want, you know, for his kids too, my kids, we definitely want to marry, like, within the community. It's not an arranged marriage. It's like, you know, keeping it in the community. Now, let's pivot a little bit to goals.

What's a personal goal that you guys have for yourself, a business goal that you have for the business and a family goal? You go first on this. You're going to still mind or what? Yeah, what is it? Let me see. What are you going to say? I want to make it better.

Personal goal in mine is to, you know, continue to be healthy, continue to be good to my family, raise my kids, raise them right. A business goal of mind would be to, you know, continue to grow it, continue to, you know, my section is a watch section. It's to continue the watch section, grow it, get more customers, give more knowledge to the space within watch brands that don't have much content and knowledge out there is my vision for it, you know, to focus on the microbrands, to focus on other brands that

people don't necessarily understand fully and to kind of educate that customer on what they are and the meaning behind. what these watchmakers are making, because some of these guys are making four or five watches a year. Some of them make 10 watches a year. What was the other goal? Family goal. Family goal.

Raising my kids right. I mean, in reality, it's like, you know, raising my kids right, keeping them within the church and keeping them within that straight line would be a blessing for me. I mean, honestly, aside from business, aside from personal growth, like, forget all that. As long as I'm at an older age, you know, God willing, if I'm 70, 75, 80, if I live that long. To see my kids grow up correct, family, successful, and happy, everything else doesn't matter.

That's right. Yeah. And then a business goal. Business goal would be to continue to, you know, grow the watch business with unhappy jewelers and get into different avenues of the watch space. Because, you know, it's like Rolex, Paddock, Richard Mill, AP, Cartier, Panery. We kind of have those dominated. I don't want to say dominated. That sounds very...

That sounds very conceited. Conceded? I want to say we kind of have that market. On lockdown. On lockdown. Focusing on the microbrands and really getting into those independent watchmaking. Who are some of the microbrands that you guys have your eyes on? You know, there's companies like Debutthune.

There's companies like MBNF, you know, those kind of companies where they're making very few. You know, FPJORN, those kind of companies where they make very, very limited watches. So it's kind of like it's not like a role. Rolex Samariner AP Royal Oak where you have a watch and you're competing with, you know, 200 other retailers that have the same exact watch as you. You know, you have a DeBithoon and you have an FP drone. If the client wants it, they're going to have to come to you because you're going to be the only person

with that watch in the world. The business goal is for us to expand more within our area, though. Like, I'm just trying to like, when we started, it was 2,000 square foot. Then we took next door, it became 4,000 square foot. So we're trying to like expand the store to make it bigger. And we have a huge online presence. And we have, we do really good business on like online, just like people, you know, going on our website and just clicking to buy the item.

We do really well in store, but I want that, the internet online business to be bigger. So I'm working on that. We're both working on that. So maybe within the next two years, it will be. be like, you know, it will be a lot bigger. But in order for me to do that, I need more space. Do you need more space? Because I know jewelers now are just all purely online, a lot of them, right? Yeah, they are, but our store is different. Again, people like to come into the store to shop for the experience. But there's, you know, again, we have a huge website. It's great, but it needs to be,

I want people to just click it and buy it right there. You know, so I want to, I want that to be, I want that part of the business to grow more. Family goal is, like Danny said, you know, we're big family people. You know, I want like my kids to, you know, again, I'm not very pushy, but hopefully my kids will, you know, take over the business, you know, they'll come here more and hang out with me more. That's all we want. Yeah, exactly. That's why I became an influencer just to hang out with my kids more. Like, they think I'm cool.

Their friends think I'm cool. Yeah. No, dude, yeah, exactly. Like, people, like, my daughters are like, oh, my God, you know, their friends always, like, you know, they follow happy jewelers. We get all these celebrities, like country singers and, like, you know, like, guys like, like, freaking Morgan Wallen comes and hangs out with us. Morgan Whelan? We do all this stuff, right? Like, because, you know, every girl, like, everybody loves Morgan Wallen.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I would love him to make Morgan Wallen. You have his haircut. You kind of look like him. So yeah, so we do a lot of stuff like that. I mean, like, that's, I mean, we literally have like every country singer. I can't think of everybody's name, but we have.

So they're like, you know, I want my girls to be like, oh, my God, dad, you're like, but their friends are like, oh, my God, like, your dad is so cool. Morgan, he's hanging out with Morgan Wallen. But you know what I mean? Like the kids are like, yeah, they don't think you're cold. But is that the way it is that your, yeah, for me too. I hang out with all the YouTube. I do content.

I'm like, you know, I'm a YouTuber. And all the kids are like, oh, he's. He's so cool. Yeah, dad. It's like, yeah, like, no, dad, get away. So it's like that at everybody's house. It's not only at our house, too, okay? That's cool.

That's too funny. So that's... The family... And then your goal, your personal goal. My personal goal... I mean, my personal goal is like, you know, I would say I think I do everything I want in my life. You know what I mean?

So, like, maybe work out more. Actually, when I go to the gym, I like to go in the gym. the sauna, I need to start working out. I swear to God. Just get a sauna at home. He calls me, he goes, I'm like, what do you doing? He goes, I'm at the gym. I'm at the gym or you're in the sauna.

I'm in the sauna. I'm like, dude, that's not the gym. Like, no, I did a couple of workouts. He'll go like three, four minutes and do a couple of weights. And then he goes straight into the sauna. Yeah. You're right, you should get a sauna at home. Yeah, yeah.

It's a thousand bucks at Costco. Yeah. Last question, guys. When you're in front of the pearly gates, what do you think God's going to tell you? He's going to say, I mean, I hope. hope, right? I hope he says, you know, God willing, I hope he says, you know, Danny, you helped a lot of people in your life. You never cheated anybody. You're always a good person. You know, I'm not perfect.

Obviously, you know, I sin, but I hope my goodness is better than my failures. But I always strive to be a good person and I'm an honest person and, you know, I hope God sees that as well. because, you know, the gates are narrow, and my goal in life is to make it through them. You know, that's everybody's goal to, you know, to make it to heaven. So for me, too, like, you know, I'm a sinful person, just like everybody else, for sure. I just hope, like, all the, I do more good deeds and good stuff than more than I sinned. So I, you know, that's it. Yeah, that's a good question.

That's like, shit. I'm like shedding bricks up here. That's like, when someone asked me that question, I was on a podcast and he asked me like, what's the question you ask everybody at the end of your podcast? And I told me that question. Then he asked me that question. I'm like, oh, man. Let me ask you that question, Joe.

Now you tell us. He put us on the spot. Yeah. And I broke down. I started like, because your life flashes in front of you. Yeah. You think about everything. And then, you know, and I answer the same.

I, you know, I exist, my whole existence is just to do God's work. Yeah. Like, everything I do is like, God, I'm here. You gave me all these talents. Like, I don't know why you let me get through all this other stuff. And just use me in whatever way you can use me. And like, whatever I could do to do your work, like, I don't care about money. You gave me more.

I came from dirt. You know, I just released the book Rising from the Sand. Like, I came from the poorest part of Cairo. So you, and now I'm in Newport Beach. You know, like, you gave me more than I ever wanted, so, you know, let me do whatever you got, need me to do. I'm going to go ahead and I'll tell other CEOs and I'll tell other people, like, I'm just God's servant. Like, I do God's work first. He does my work first, so I'm propped Christian. I preach it just like they do because I'm allowed to.

Yeah. You can't do anything to me. You've got to be proud of it. Yeah. Are you kidding me? I mean, you got to scream out on the top of the building. I thank you guys. Thanks for being on the show.

And if people want to connect with you, how do they find you? On social media, you know, happy jewelers, they can check us out. on YouTube at Happy Jewelers as well. On our website, Fullerton, California, five minutes away from Disneyland, and on our website, www.happiJewooders.com. But we're pretty much everywhere, to be honest,

TikTok, happy Jewelers. Just type and Happy Jewelers, you'll find us. You love it. Love it, guys. Happy Jewelers, the legends of the jewelry space. Make sure to connect, especially if you're looking for your next jewelry piece. Thank you guys.

Thanks for watching.