Archive - Apr 30, 2009
Some friends of ours, who live in Kansas City, have decided to skip the big wedding to-do they'd scheduled for October and have instead opted for a courthouse wedding tomorrow. I've been doing some online shopping for a gift, and, of course being an Omaha girl at heart, I hit up Borsheims' website to see what they had available. Our friends never got around to registering anywhere, so that gives me more options.
But why would I go to Borsheims for a wedding present, being the cheap skate I am? Well, for the uninformed, Borsheims is the largest independent jewelry store in the country, and it's one of Omaha's jewels---no pun intended. The place can be somewhat intimidating when you walk in, and see all sorts of prominently placed pieces of jewelry that are priced in the half-million and up range. But, fear not, my devoted Cake Eater readers, for despite their celebrity clientele (that bitch Whoopi Goldberg and that bastard Ted Danson bought the toasting glasses we'd picked out. Yeah, and who's still married? Eh? Eh?) this is an Omaha store, and usually there are some bargains to be found. How can this be you ask? Well, here be the deal: everything in the store, from the half-million dollar pair of black pearl and diamond earrings to the lowliest salt shaker is on sale. At all times. Everything. And I mean everything. You automatically get a 15% discount when you take the item up to the register to pay for it. It's brilliant, and at times, particularly when you're shopping for wedding presents available at other fine department stores in Omaha, you can, given this discount, get things cheaper. Not to mention they have free wrapping and shipping within town. What's not to like? {Insert caveat here: haven't actually bought anything there in a while, so they might not still do this, but since it's Borsheims and they're very big on tradition, I doubt they've changed it.}
We registered there when the husband and I got married and I was always SOOOO happy whenever the nice lady in the Borsheims van stopped at the house. It was always something good. Even if it wasn't something I had registered for, it was never something that I didn't want, because they take registering very seriously there and the sales people usually guide people in the right direction, style-wise.
Yes, I was a greedy bride. Sue me.
Anyway, Borsheims is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, aka Warren Buffet's overlarge slush fund, and their annual meeting is this weekend. Shareholders galore descend upon Omaha, gather in the Qwest Center to pepper he and his partner with questions, and when question time is over with, Warren takes everyone on a tour of his holdings in town. They stop by Dairy Queen and Nebraska Furniture Mart. And, of course, they wing by Borsheims. You get good bargains on this weekend if you're a BH shareholder. My sister and her husband actually bought one share of their 'B' stock, just so they could get the discounts Nebraska Furniture Mart offers over this weekend. Borsheims follows suit, and they actually have memorabilia on offer this weekend, for the shareholders to purchase. While I think the piggy bank is quite cool, one particular custom Peggy Karr glass tray, caught my eye and made me laugh like a loon.
Imagine your guests' surprise at your next party, when they'd plowed through enough of the veggie tray to come across that.
I suppose Warren and Charlie had better make fun of themselves after the "beating" their stock took this past year---but don't feel too sorry for them: the price of one share of 'A' stock costs $93,000.
