b'JEWELRYTHE COLOREDTHE THE STATE OF RETAIL DESIGN STONE DIAMOND MARKET INDUSTRY BACK TO INSURANCE BASICS However, as unprecedented weather events pop up with greater Insurance is an essential, albeit tricky, expensefrequency, agents and customers are taking notice.for retailers, with policy coverage varying basedThough the basic coverage level has not changed, says LaRocca, on myriad factors. insurance carriers are paying more attention to the risks in specific When it comes to weather-related insurance,areas that are more prone to extreme weather events.it can get even more complicated. California, for example, is at a heightened risk for wildfires while A standard commercial lines policy will coverFlorida experiences windstorms frequently and low-lying areas along wind- and weather-related events, explains Joethe Gulf Coast are prone to flooding.LaRocca, vice president of commercial lines at Berkley Asset Protection, but limitations mayFLOODS, FREEZES, AND FIRESapply depending on your specific location. Jordan Dubin of Dubins Fine Jewelry in Houston is on high alert Some of the basic weather-related damage covered includes: fire,from June to November, the length of hurricane season.lightning, smoke, windstorm, hail, weight of snow, ice, sleet, andHis father, Lenny Dubin, founded the store three decades ago, water damage, such as from a burst pipe or a backed-up sewerContinued on page 14rather than a flood.Normally, flood and earthquake damage are specifi-cally excluded from coverage, says LaRocca, due to their catastrophic damage potential.When looking at the potential for total damage from these two eventsmeaning all the insurance policies in a small geographic areait can be too great to be covered under most insurance policies. (Flood insurance, he notes, is available through the Na-tional Flood Insurance Program.)The point of having insurance is in-demnification, which means restoring a customers business to what it was, or close to what it was, before the loss, explains John Fierst, vice president of underwriting programs at Jewelers Mutual Group. Ideally, customers and insurance agents work togeth-er to figure out the amount of coverage needed to ade-quately protect property for a weather-related event. An aerial view of Hurricane Harvey, which brought devastation to Louisiana and Texas in August 2017 (Image courtesy of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)12 STATE OF THE MAJORS 2021'