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Fans get off couch and into jewelry store Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Sheila Klimek cleans a jewelry case at Pacific Diamond Jewelers as Dennis Miller pontificates during a recent Monday Night Football game. The downtown Medford store is offering pizza, beer and the NFL in hopes of luring male customers shopping for "the gift that lasts forever." Pacific Diamond uses football to lure men By Mark Freeman Phil Cam is turning to an old Monday evening standby in his attempt to make jewelry shopping a guy thing. Pizza, beer and Monday Night Football are luring Y-chromosomed shoppers to Cam�s downtown Medford jewelry store as they search for a more manly way to shop for the women in their lives. It�s Bills vs. Colts tonight, with Black Hills gold 40 percent off. Colts are favored by 6�. Earrings are 40 percent off. The over-under score is 45�. Pizza�s there by 6:45 p.m. For friends and repeat customers, the Coors Light is in the blue cooler. "Guys don�t always feel comfortable in a jewelry store," says Cam, who runs Pacific Diamond Jewelers at the corner of Court and Main streets. "The Monday Night Football thing gives them an excuse to come down." The promotion certainly gave plumber John Janakes an excuse last Monday to catch the score in the Chiefs-Patriots game while Christmas shopping for his wife. Janakes slurped down three pieces of sausage-and-cheese pizza before settling on a present. He watched football and nibbled on slice No. 4 while a clerk rang up his purchase. No one seemed to care he had plumbers� glue all over his hands. "I heard about the Monday Night Football thing, a guys-only shopping party, so I came down," Janakes says. "I didn�t even remember the pizza and beer. I�m usually too busy to mess with this stuff, but it got me here." Janakes� reaction is exactly what Cam seeks. Christmas season accounts for a quarter of Pacific Diamond Jewelers� annual business. The store usually has been open during daylight hours, but Cam learned two years ago that 70 percent of all retail sales in America are done after traditional business hours. So he started staying open later for the holidays and last year put the Monday Night Football spin on it. After one football fan walked in last year to check out the game and walked out $10,000 lighter, Cam has been sold on the promo. "It�s just trying to match opportunity and availability to shop," Cam says. Jeremy Hunsley made his Monday night shopping experience into a modern guy thing � he brought three hungry daughters with him to pick out a piece of jewelry his wife has coveted for years. The girls sat on the floor with pizza and soda while Hunsley filled out paperwork and soaked up the game. "I�m not a big jewelry buyer, but I heard about this and it just hit me," says Hunsley, pausing between words to catch Dennis Miller�s commentary about the Chiefs-Patriots game. "It�s a little more relaxing." Cam expects about 50 more Hunsley-like customers during tonight�s game, which starts at 6 p.m. Guys who might otherwise be shopping for Thigh-Masters or toaster ovens for their wives will be walking out with a full stomach and a real present this year. But not John McLean of Medford � he�s divorced. "I�m here for the pizza," he said, "but I might buy myself a watch for Christmas." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.