Considering brothers Joseph and Ariel Banin met Dino D’Auria in Las Vegas where they formed the idea for luxury watch and jewellery retailer Frost of London, the Hot 100 portrait of the co-founders is quite fitting; an epic game of poker in the retailer’s newly refurbished – to the tune of a cool £1m – Bond Street store.
The trio take great pride in their ‘thriving’ performance in the face of tough market conditions, having survived whilst other retailers with more money behind them have exited the market – we can only think they mean French luxury watch retailer Kronometry 1999, which recently shut the doors of its Bond Street store for good.
While Dino describes those involved in the business as having “an amazing work ethic and loyalty that runs through our entire team from us to security”, he does believe that the company is too ‘nice’ and ‘needs to grow a pair’.
The Frost team cite Jacob Arrabo, or Jacob the Jeweller, as their inspiration. When the trio launched their store Jacob & Co was its first and only brand. While they describe themselves as ‘miles behind’ him, Jacob’s own business biography gives them hope and tells them not to be afraid of pushing boundaries.
Whilst Joseph, Ariel and Dino won’t be afraid of taking chances – which is arguably what sets their business apart from its competition – Frost of London will be focusing on the steady growth of its top 15 brands for the foreseeable future. As well as the independents, Frost of London has also managed to sign up both LVMH and Richemont brands in the past year, giving the often difficult to tag retailer a recognisable collection of brands.
Ariel sums up the retailer’s business strategy going forward when he says: “we know we need to keep doing what we are doing and continue to work hard and be one step ahead of the game; the second you become complacent, you’re no longer standing still but going backwards.”
