3 Jewelry Stores Placed Off-Limits : Military: Three stores, including downtown Giant Jewelry, are put off-limits because of alleged high-pressure sales tactics and inflated prices.

Three San Diego County jewelry stores have been placed off-limits to military personnel after more than 90 sailors and Marines complained of high-pressure sales tactics and inflated prices, Navy officials said Thursday.

Young recruits, many awaiting orders for Operation Desert Shield, told the legal affairs office that they were pressured into buying overpriced jewelry--including 14-carat gold crosses decorated with diamonds and sapphires--for their parents, said Cmdr. Steve Epstein, judge advocate general for San Diego Naval Base headquarters.

Epstein identified the San Diego stores as Giant Jewelry Co., 308 W. Broadway, San Diego; S & S Enterprises, 2702 Lytton St., San Diego, and Sound Stations, 213-B N. Hill St., Oceanside.

The store manager at Giant Jewelry declined comment, referring calls to the store’s attorney, who was not available. No one answered calls at the other two locations. Epstein said, however, that the stores have denied using high-pressure sales techniques.

Epstein said his office has passed the information to the district attorney’s office and to the Better Business Bureau.

Epstein said sales people would target raw recruits. He said sales people would go out on the street in front of the stores and entice the recruits inside with offers of free pizza, coupons to area restaurants or offers to play pool and watch television inside.

“The common practice was to lean on these kids and prey on their immaturity,” he said. Many are young and away from home for the first time.

Sales people would ask who was the most important woman in their lives and when they said their mother, sales people would give them a mom-and-apple-pie pitch, Epstein continued. They would ask recruits when was the last time they had written to their moms and urge them to do something nice for her.

Sales people would also physically block the door to keep the recruits from leaving, he said. “It was not an isolated thing. It was a common thread throughout the cases.”

Epstein said some of recruits told him they had bought pieces for as much as $699 and had them appraised for as little as $100.

“We understand merchants have to turn a profit,” Epstein said. “But, if these folks were selling the same merchandise at a mall, would they be selling it at $700 a pop? My belief is they would not.”

Epstein said his legal affairs office has complained to the stores for three years without success. He said the three stores were all owned by Giant Jewelry when contacted in July, but two of the stores have since been sold.

Putting an establishment off-limits is a last resort, Epstein said. But, because complaints have continued, Navy and Marine personnel have been ordered not to frequent the stores.

“We can’t tell the stores what to do, but we can tell Navy and Marine Corps personnel they cannot go into those stores,” Epstein said.

The order was issued by the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board, which considers reports and takes action against establishments that are determined to be detrimental to the health and well-being of military personnel.