KYLE MURPHY Staff Writer

The beginning of October, for many, is the beginning of celebrating the spooky season of Halloween. For Jim Woodard, Oct. 1 is the beginning of what would be the start of him putting ink to paper to buy out and establish Woodard’s Diamonds and Design, which has become a mainstay in Tullahoma for over three decades.

Knocking for opportunity

Woodard’s journey into diamonds and design began in 1974 when he was in high school in Winchester, where he was looking for something different than sacking groceries and doing stock work. Woodard knocked on the door of Jennings Jewelers where he asked the owner, Josh Tenpenny, and asked him if he could be a delivery boy for his flower shop business next door. Tenpenny told him that he didn’t need a delivery boy. After talking for a minute and thanking him for his time, Woodard began to leave when Tenpenny hollered back.

“Well, wait a minute,” Woodard recalled Tenpenny saying to him. “Would you be interested in ever working in the jewelry trade?”

“Well, I think that would be fantastic,” Woodard responded, noting he had been working outside during the summer and winter and the change to working inside with heating and cooling was a nice change.

As he graduated in 1976 and continued his education at MTSU, where he graduated in 1979, Woodard continued to work with the Jennings family during the weekends and continued to stay involved in the jewelry trade.

“From almost the very first week, I fell in love with the industry,” Woodard said. “I fell in love with working with people. It was just a good experience, and I liked it.”

After graduation, Woodard would work at the Jennings Jewelry location in McMinnville, as well as traveling to other store locations, where he would develop his passion for gemology and working with customers on celebrating special occasions and people.

“We celebrate those special occasions,” Woodard said. “There’s not many businesses today, in my opinion, where you can really help people, whether it’s celebrating a milestone, a graduation, a marriage, a baby. a new job, a promotion.”

He added that he also wanted to help customers during the sadder times, like losing a loved one, and working with them to find and repair priceless gems to keep the memories alive. These sentiments would eventually be one of Woodard’s Diamonds and Design mottos: Celebrate Life and Love.

“I really fell in love with working with people, and trying to have my time working with those folks celebrating life’s special moments,” Woodard said.

Taking the first step in Tullahoma

Being about a decade into the jewelry trade, Woodard would arrive in Tullahoma in 1984 as Jennings Jewelry had bought a store on Lincoln Street, while still working in the stores in McMinnville, Winchester, Dyersburg and even Decatur, Ala. Woodard said he would make the drive from McMinnville to Tullahoma and, over time, customers would encourage him to stay in Tullahoma.

“Jim Woodard, you need to move to Tullahoma,” he recalled a group of three ladies speaking to him. “You’ve gotta move to Tullahoma.”

He would shortly after purchase a home in Tullahoma and get settled in. Woodard would still continue to work with Jennings Jewelry until 1991, when he was presented with another opportunity. That opportunity was to start his business.

“Jennings decided they wanted to close their store. They were kind of in a scaled-down mode,” Woodard said. “They came to me and said, ‘Jim, we think we need to close that store in Tullahoma, and you’re welcome to buy if you want to, and if not, though, we’re going to close it.’”

Not knowing what else he could do since he’s been jewelry for 17 years at that point, he began looking around to find a bank to loan him money to make the purchase. The man that would do so was Brac Thoma with First National Bank, who Woodard state he’ll always give Thoma credit for being the banker who accepted his business proposal. With the loan in hand, Woodard would officially purchase the business from the Jennings family on Oct. 1, 1991.

Going out for business

When asked what the main difference in working and operating a business to owning one, Woodard said it was the stress, especially since he was married with a two-year-old at the and was expecting their next daughter.

“All of the sudden, now I’ve got this huge responsibility of trying to make it on my own,” Woodard said.

So, Woodard, the first thing he did, was run a big campaign called “Woodard’s Going Out for Business.”

“In our industry, a lot of people will help you go out of business. You see it all the time,” Woodard said. “They’re going out of business, and so it generates a lot of activity. But I promoted and campaigned that I’m going out for the business.”

When he first bought the business, Woodard was offered the name Jennings Jewelers, but said he couldn’t afford the high price for it. So, he had to change the name and simply went with Woodard’s Diamonds and Design, where he admitted he couldn’t come up with anything “too original.”

Another difference in running a business vs. owning a business, according to Woodard, was the amount of work that was needed, where he said he was working seven days a week and never turning off the business. One of the first things he did was reach out to his church friend, Lisa Dye, and asked for her help.

“When I bought the business, I called Lisa and I said, ‘I’ve just bought this business. I need a bookkeeper and a babysitter, and would you help?’”

Dye joined Woodard in 1991 as his bookkeeper, and has stayed with Woodard ever since. She now serves as the CFO.

Another longtime associate of Woodard’s Diamonds and Design is Blair Rogers, who serves as the General Manager of the store and has been with Woodard’s for nearly two decades.

“Having those two people that have had that kind of longevity with me is just a real blessing to have those relationships,” Woodard said.

Woodard noted he had a lot on his plate when he began Woodard’s Diamonds and Design, as he was the president of the Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as being a member of several other local chambers, a member of the Tullahoma Rotary Club, helped to found the Highland Hills Church of Christ and served as an alderman from 1992 to 1998. Even though his days were longer with city meetings and committee assignments, Woodard said his time on the city council was a real advantage for him and his business as it allowed him the opportunity to meet people. All of these responsibilities were just examples of one of Woodard’s core beliefs: serving others before himself. 

“I think one of the things that I’ve always felt is the need to give back to our town and try to service,” Woodard said.

Expanding customers and business

As the years went by, Woodard’s Diamonds and Design expanded its clientele from outside of Tullahoma, including customers from Nashville to Huntsville, Ala., and moved from its first location on Lincoln Street to what would be its home for 33 years inside Northgate Mall. Woodard recalled that when he came to Tullahoma, inside Northgate Mall was first Diamond World, then Thompson’s Jewelers. He said when Thompson’s left, he moved in because, at the time, the owners said they wanted two jewelers inside the mall. He, along with Joe Lester, established a group to buy the mall under Northgate, LLC, before selling and taking on a new partner, Brookside Properties, which Woodard credited with helping to bring in Publix to Tullahoma in 2018.

During that time, Woodard was informed of a change to Northgate by David Crabtree of Brookside Properties that would change his business.

“Jim, we’re going to de-mall the mall,” Woodard recalled his conversation with Crabtree. “Jim, you’re gonna have to come out, because we are doing away with the interior.

“The inside of the mall had just basically turned into a ghost town,” Woodard said about Northgate Mall at the time. “I was about the only one still standing on the inside of the mall.”

Woodard said the news became a real pressure point, as he was “too old” to change directions in his career, but not ready to retire. So, he had to come up with a game plan, and he quickly figured out the plan: buy the building at 2011 N. Jackson St. This building had a history in Tullahoma, as it was a Shoney’s when he first moved there before it closed and eventually became Uncle Bud’s Catfish before it ultimately closed in the 2010s. Woodard contacted Lester and learned that the owner, who lived in New Jersey, never wanted to sell the building and turned down every offer.

“So, with hope and a prayer, I said, ‘Well Joe, how about you guys calling and seeing if he would sell it?’” Woodard said. “At that time, he said, ‘Yes, I will.’ I thought that was my God’s wink to say, ‘Okay, you’re on the right path, Jim, to come off the mall.”

However, Woodard needed to secure the purchase of the building, and without a business loan or plan, he said he got a home equity loan on his home to put down as a deposit on the building. From there, he sought out an architect to renovate and change the building from a restaurant to a jewelry store. He found an architect out of Tampa, Fla., who worked with Woodard to design the store, which would take about a year. Meanwhile, Woodard was still at Northgate Mall as he wasn’t feeling pressure to leave quickly, but he was still under a lease. All the while, he was a father of four children and dealing with his

“I was trying to be responsible to the lease that I had, plus knowing that I’ve gotta come out (of the mall), plus finding the capital to refinish and remodel this building,” Woodard said. “That was a lot of stressful nights and a lot of stressful moments.”

All of those nights and hard work were about to pay off as the new home of Woodard’s Diamonds and Design was opened in late 2019, just in time for Christmas. However, Woodard, like many businesses, was hit with another roadblock in the first quarter of 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and was forced to close the store due to the government mandate at the time.

“We were closed almost two and a half months due to COVID right after I gotten moved in and right after we were trying to get started as a company,” Woodard said.

He said the first thing he did was pause and pray a lot. Then, he said the next step was figuring out how they could sell some stuff. Taking note from a supplier, Woodard’s Diamonds and Design pivoted to an online shop, which he said helped generate revenue.

“You do what you gotta do,” Woodard said. “Even though we’re closed, we’re not open to the public, but I was up here using the telephone, making phone calls, willing to deliver, trying to keep at a few dollars rolling in if I could. They weren’t big dollars, but we had enough to try to pay the light bill and try to make it. But we did.”

Woodard was soon able to reopen the store, and before long they were preparing for December, their busiest month, when all the staff, including Woodard, caught COVID and had to shut down the store for the first two weeks of December.

“So that year, 2020, was not fun by any stretch of the imagination,” Woodard stated.

Despite the challenges, Woodard’s Diamonds and Design received recognition when it received Business of the Year by the Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as receiving the Jeweler of the Year award from the 24 Carat Club in 2019.

“I was appreciative of that,” Woodard said. “I think they recognized that we were pushing it. We were trying to open up a new business. We were dealing with all the stresses of trying to get into a new location, and with the threats of COVID coming on and all of that stuff happening.”

Lessons and plans for the future

For what lessons he has learned in his career, Woodard said the best lessons he’s learned come from scripture, loving your neighbor and loving God with all of your heart, mind, soul and spirit.

“Love your neighbor as yourself is a very important skill to continue,” Woodard said. “You do need to love your customers, love your neighbors even more.”

As for how to make a business successful, Woodard said the most critical thing to do is build a team and make sure the business is giving the customers what they want.

“I think you can endure this a bit more if you really love what you do, and you love the people you work with,” Woodard said. “Every new hire, I say, ‘You don’t work for me. You work with me,’ because we’re working together. My boss every day is the customer that comes through the door.”

Woodard emphasized the importance of a business giving back to the community it serves from the standpoint of charity or just doing good acts of service. He cited motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, whom he called an inspiration to him, who said “You can always have whatever it is you want if you will help other people what it is that they want.”

“In other words, if you help them first, then you can get what you want,” Woodard said.

At 68 years old, Woodard said he plans to continue working as long as he can, but added he wants to help upcoming businesses and young entrepreneurs. His first piece of advice to those still in school is to just get out and work to learn and implement new skills. He added that finding people to surround oneself with and finding good mentors was also important. His last pieces of advice were to set oneself a little bit apart from the rest and have good management of dollars and cents.

He then shared an old expression he’s heard from people that’s helped him.

“I could say to you I’ve got 52 years of jewelry experience,” Woodard said. “Well, some people say, ‘Well, no you don’t, Jim Woodard. You’ve only got one of experience that you’ve lived over and over and over for 52 years.’”

He continued, “In other words, do you have 52 years of experience where you’ve learned and you’ve grown, and you’ve changed, and you’ve adapted, or have you done it this same way every year for the last 52 years? So, if we had done that, I don’t think we would be here today.”

Regardless of the times, Woodard said the one piece of advice that never needs to change is to be kind, good, and compassionate to people.

“We try to implement those on a day-to-day basis, but I’m so thankful for 35 years,” he said. “I’m so thankful for the customers that have traded with us over the years and sent their referrals and their friends. So grateful for those customers, cause they could trade anywhere. So thankful for the team members, the Woodard’s employees, that are here that give of themselves.”

When asked if there were certain people he wanted to thank for their help and impact, he first thanked his parents, wife, daughters, and the rest of his family for their continuous years of support. He also thanked his school teachers he had along the way. As for mentors, he thanked Josh Tenpenny and Austin Jennings for being mentors for him. For those within the business, he thanked his CFO and first employee, Lisa Dye, General Manager, Blair Rogers and his goldsmith, and jeweler, Michael Smith. Outside the store but within the community, Woodard thanked Stan and Jamie McNabb, Lane Curlee, Joe Lester, Brac Thoma, and many others with whom he has built both business and community relationships.