Signet Jewelers is a British retail jewelry chain with a colorful history. For the first four and a half decades of its existence after it was established in 1949, it was known as the Ratner Group, named after the family that controlled it. At the end of this period, it acquired other jewelry retailers and capped this process in 1993 by changing its corporate brand name.
The company’s change of name was precipitated by offhand remarks made by the firm’s former chief executive officer, which led to a drop in the firm’s share price.
Two decades later, Signet now runs nearly 2,000 jewelry stores, but about two-thirds of these are in the United States and are branded differently, as Kay Jewelers, Jared the Galleria of Jewelry and a host of other names.
In the United Kingdom, where most of the rest of its shops are located, it is often branded as H. Samuel, which is said to be the top specialty jewelry in the country. In England it also operates Ernest Jones stores, targeted to an upscale clientele and advertised as a watch specialist.
