From Hobby to Empire, Cranston's Alex and Ani Riding "Rocket Ship"

For a state known for its once-prominent jewelry industry, the remarkable growth of Alex and Ani since its inception in 2005 is a dazzling success story amidst years of steady decline and factories closing one after another.

Alex and Ani is headquartered in Cranston, has a factory in Cranston and is following a remarkable growth trajectory—growing so fast it has already outgrown the brand new 9,000 square feet of office space it moved into earlier this month. It now is about to embark on a new expansion inside their , leasing 13,000 more square feet of space that affords spectacular views of Cranston, the Providence skyline and Narragansett Bay.

Meanwhile, it is steadily building a growing retail empire that will soon be reaching into Europe and Asia.

The company reached $1 million in sales in 2008. In 2009, sales more than doubled. In 2010 they cracked $10 million.  Then things “really started moving,” said the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Giovanni Feroce. He told U.S. Representative Jim Langevin on a recent tour of the new Chapel View store that sales could be well over $50 million this year.

“It’s a rocket ship,” he said.

The company, which started as the hobby of founder Carlyn Rafaelian, has tapped into something. Their charms are designed and made to spread positive energy. That energy is infused in their products, according to its website. And, according to Feroce, that energy is leading towards the creation of a model for the resurrection of the retail and manufacturing industry in the United States, starting here in Rhode Island.

Alex and Ani has created more than 200 jobs and their plans for continued growth will mean many more to come, Feroce said.

Keeping up with the increasing demand has become “more challenging, but we will be adding capacity on the manufacturing side,” Feroce said. “You’re going to see some really major steps in the next 12 to 24 months.”

That could mean more manufacturing jobs here in Cranston or in Woonsocket, Pawtucket or Providence. It also means more work for the people who supply Alex and Ani with its raw materials, components, jewelry-making equipment, the list goes on. It is starting to become known as the “Alex and Ani effect,” Feroce said, with retailers who sell their products and even stores near Alex and Ani retail locations telling the company they have single-handedly saved their businesses, or at the very least, helped make this past Christmas shopping season a decent one.

“There are many small business that have not only survived, but thrived because of our product being there,” Feroce said.

The success has brought politicians through the company’s doors to find out what they’re doing, to find the magic and see the formula at a time when most of their constituency is reporting continued economic hardship.

Feroce was recently the guest of on the first of this month to share his experience with Senate leaders.

This week, the message from Feroce and Rafaelian was “let it be,” telling Langevin that increasing taxes would stifle growth for Alex and Ani and other companies and not endorsing any specific legislation that is deemed pro-business.

“We have never asked for anything,” Feroce said. “Let us work with the rules we have in place now. Don’t keep changing the rules.”

Rafaelian told Langevin that she never doubted she knew Alex and Ani, which is named after her two daughters, would succeed.

“I literally put good luck and positive energy into everyone I touched,” she said, overjoyed with “the fact it’s manifesting now and becoming a reality and growing.”

Feroce said the company is focused on doing what it does best. Along with making jewelry in its own factory — a key advantage — Alex and Ani has hit a chord with consumers, making products “that is personal and meaningful to them.”

The first Alex and Ani store was in Newport in Bowen’s Wharf.  They now operate nine retail locations in places like Newberry Street in Boston, Palm Beach, Martha’s Vineyard, and in New York’s SoHo district. The company is in the process of opening a new store in Spain and there is interest in expanding Alex and Ani even into China, Feroce said.

Local companies are being hired to equip and build those stores, Feroce said. At the Chapel View store, the display cases and even the light fixtures were made locally. One vendor has increased his payroll from 19 to 31 people just to keep up.

They are also planning to branch out with a beauty line that will include fragrances and have begun to dabble in music production. And the Chapel View store will be expanded to include a cafe area to provide a "post-purchase experience" for the consumers who have been coming in droves. During one week in December, the store cleared $333,000 in sales.

“The operation is well thought-out,” Langevin said. “It’s a real Rhode Island success story and it’s about buying local, local manufacturing and vendors and that means making more jobs around the state.”

So the notion that the state’s jewelry industry is dying or nearly dead?
“They’re fighting that trend right here,” Langevin said.

The question might soon not be whether Alex and Ani can keep up with demand, but whether the rest of the state can keep up with Alex and Ani.