RAPAPORT...
The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, RDR explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say when asked on the last week of December: “How did Christmas sales compare to 2006? What were the hot selling items? Is the last week of the year still a busy selling time?
DANIEL GORDON, PRESIDENT
SAMUEL GORDON JEWELERS
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA“We had an increase in sales. We saw a huge surge in Journey jewelry — mainly the pendants; we carry higher-end quality and people were buying. Watches were a big item and engagement rings. Larger sizes, from 2 to 4 carats and up, were definitely a big part of the season; we had more requests than last year. Cushion continues to be very popular and the traditional round. Princess cuts seemed to be down.
“Lots of color sold this year — designer lines that do diamond and color, like Gregg Ruth, did well. Fancy yellow was big, in fashion jewelry and in loose goods for an upgrade to an existing wedding ring, and some fancy pink.
“We had an ice storm in the beginning; our power was out for a full day and a lot of people were without power for a whole week. The last couple of weeks were really a condensed version of what is normally spread out over all of Christmas. We’re really grateful for that; we ended up with a nice substantial increase.”
HARTON WOLF, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
HENNE JEWELERS
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA“We were very fortunate; we were able to show an increase over last year. In terms of hot sellers, there were none. We were able to meet most of our customers needs, but the needs varied all over the store.
“I would say Journey jewelry was neither strong nor weak; we sold some. Diamond pierced earrings, the basics, seemed to be very strong this year. But we sold nice diamond cufflinks, which we don’t normally sell. It was just across the board.
“This week is still busy with exchanges, gift certificates; people still have bonus money and there’s some self-purchase in there, too, for people who didn’t get what they wanted.”
GARY LONG, OWNER
GARY J. LONG JEWELERS
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA“Christmas was soft for us; we were down from last year. We’re in Stockton, California, the number one city in the United States for repossessions. The economy out here is a little soft. We still had a nice Christmas, but it wasn’t anywhere near last year’s.
“Hot sellers were Hearts on Fire diamonds, by almost two to one. Pendants sold very well. Diamond earrings and regular pendants are always hot. The Phillip Stein watch did very, very well.
“We sold diamond tennis bracelets better this year than last year. We sold a couple of fancy yellow diamonds, but nothing big. We didn’t sell a lot of 3 and 4 carats like we normally sell. The people with the big tickets weren’t there this year, but all the bread-and-butter numbers were there.”
JIMMY GREEN, PRESIDENT
J. GREEN JEWELERS
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
“We had a tremendously good Christmas, very successful. It started off with a bang, died [in the middle] and ended with the biggest Christmas Eve I’ve ever seen. Business was pretty much across the board; surprisingly, not as many huge sales but the overall numbers were up.
“There was no one thing. A lot of diamonds, as always: big diamonds, yellow diamonds, white diamonds; the diamond business was good. We sold a lot of colored diamonds, a lot of color in general.
“This week, we’re packed. It’s wall-to-wall people in the store right now and they’re buying, not exchanging or returning. I’m very, very upbeat.”
SCOTT BERG, VICE PRESIDENT
LEE MICHAELS FINE JEWELRY
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANNA“We had a good Christmas this year. We’re not complaining by any means. Sales were strongest with the high-end customers. We did see a little bit of a loss in the middle, that customer who would have purchased but was affected by the housing market…the aspirational buyer. But fortunately, enough of the high, high-end customer made up for it.
“Diamonds were strong again. Pink diamonds were good for us, and colored diamonds in general. We did very well with diamond in-and-out hoop earrings and we did very well with diamond bangles. Those were the more trendy hot sellers. Being in the South, trends tend to hit us later than the Northeast or the West Coast.”
WOODY JUSTICE, OWNER
JUSTICE JEWELERS
SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI
“To date, we’re down about 7½ percent for the month. Our economy here in southwest Missouri started cooling off in August, so we were able to anticipate that it was probably going to be a weak Christmas. We had projected being down as much as 10 percent, so 7 percent is not quite so bad. It was mainly that our traffic was down about 15 percent. Our average sale was up, so we feel like it was the blue-collar, hardworking guy out there, who’s worried about losing his home and gasoline prices, who got scared off this year; jewelry wasn’t on his list.
“As far as hot sellers, it was basics: diamond studs, diamond pendants. We did a little bit better this year with large, loose diamonds: four carats, threes, twos, two-and-a-halfs. Both rounds and cushions were the big shapes; princess cuts seemed to come back a little bit, not in large sizes, but more in the engagement ring size — halves, three quarters and one carats.
“The week after Christmas is usually a decent week for us; hopefully, we’ll equal last year. We still have quite a few layaways that haven’t been picked up, especially in bridal. A lot of people like to get engaged for New Year’s.”
MARC GREEN, VICE CHAIRMAN
LUX BOND & GREEN
CONNECTICUT/MASSACHUSETTS “On the business side, this week is a big week, too, because of all the people who get money and gift certificates. In general, it was a very good Christmas and we expect this week and through December 31st to really tell. As far as what sold well, diamond earrings continued to be great for us. A lot of designer pieces went very well and watches were excellent this year.
“And, fortunately, on the diamond side, there are many categories, whether it’s the Journey or any type of necklace or earrings. And there are also Christmas engagement rings — we sold a lot of those.”
APRIL MANASSERO, OFFICE MANAGER
DIAMOND BOUTIQUE
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
“It was a good year. We do think that was partly because we decided to have a large sale, from the second week in December, that’s still ongoing. We hired an outside consultant firm who came in and assisted with it.
“A lot of people wanted earrings and necklaces, not so many rings, a lot of colored gemstones. There were a few engagement rings. Our second store location in Del Mar sold a lot of larger carats.
“We hope this week will be busy for us. We’re anticipating sales will be better than last year; we hope so.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2008. To subscribe click here.