I like Emily - as I do Jim - but she also does the typical Gemporia presenter faux amazement at the prices - even though Gem Collector have hiked their prices considerably over the past 12 to 18 months and just aren't competitive any more. Her most annoying habit, in my opinion, is saying "You'd normally be paying £670 on the web - but today, you can have it for £20". Erm.... No Emily, most of those web prices are ludicrous and nobody in their right mind would EVER pay the web price. Stop making out we're getting a good deal - we're not. We're getting them at a 'normal' price.
The best presenter that Gem Collector had, in my opinion, was Nick Davies. Informative, no hard sell, no far-fetched life stories or over the top giggling. Just a nice blend of being informative without being patronising, making conversation without over-talking, etc. I used to like Alex - but it could often turn into the Alex McKay show with long drawn-out stories about him. The same repetitive jokes became tedious too.
As for the 'new' format of bringing it on, selling it, then loading the next item - the cynic in me suspects this is a decision by management.
If they load the whole hour, people can take a look through the stones, and choose a stone based on what they feel will be in their price range. Most regular buyers by now have an idea of where prices are going to pitch roughly - so you can usually scroll down to the smaller carat weights that will be within your price range or pick out the one with the best looking clarity in advance.
Loading them one-by-one stops people from 'cherry picking' the stone they want. It creates a sense of urgency because people might think "I'm not sure if there will be another stone within this price range - so I best grab this one quick" - only to find that 4 stones later, there will be one that better suits their price range and / or looks less included than they one they just purchased.
In my opinion, Gem Collector has gone into rapid decline too - just like the main Gemporia channel. The website is awful - with each 'improved' website being worse than the previous, the prices are a LOT higher than they used to be, many of the stones that we used to be able to buy years ago in 'untreated' form are now only available in irradiated form (such as Goshenite, Yellow Beryl, etc). And typical 'entry level' stones that literally every Gem store sells cannot be obtained from Gem Collector any more. Where are the Tigers Eye stones? The untreated Quartz's such as Lemon Quartz or Rose Quartz? Moss Agates? Various Jaspers? These are easily accessible stones that most collectors begin with - yet Gem Collector no longer has them.
As for their claims of being 'The World's Largest Gem Store' - yes, they used to be. These days, there's barely any choice. Gem Select have way more stones in stock, their prices are better, their quality is better, and you actually get the stone you see in the photo - whereas Gem Collector use a 'one size fits all' photo - in fact, just recently, many of the stones haven't even had a photo at all.
They've already cut their hours over the years and gone from four presenters to two - and I have serious doubts as to whether Gem Collector will survive at reduced hours too, unless the channel has a overhaul.
