The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond
jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, Rapaport Magazine 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 right after Christmas: “How happy are you with
your holiday sales results? What items were the best sellers?”
REX SOLOMON, PRESIDENT
HOUSTON JEWELRY
HOUSTON, TEXAS
“It was amazing. We had a 20 percent increase in sales over
2010. The mood was great. It wasn’t a big-ticket-item season except for vintage
Rolex. Fifty percent of the transactions were under $2,500 and the sweet spot
was $500 to $1,000.
“Diamonds did very well. We had about a 10 percent increase
in loose goods sales over the period. Bridal jewelry was big. There was a
slight spike in men’s cufflinks and rings out of the estate area. Diamond studs
were very big. Colored stone jewelry, especially the semiprecious, was off.
Diamond bracelets were weak. Gold jewelry was up. Silver was up — $50 items.
“We always do about the same amount of business the last two
days, which is generally about 20 percent of the business for the month. But
our big deal is our day after Christmas, one-day sale. We had over 1,000 people
through the doors, 100 transactions and a little over $150,000 in sales.”
GARY J. LONG, OWNER
GARY J. LONG JEWELERS
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA
“It went very well for us. It came very, very late in the
year. It was really very quiet up until around December 17. Actually we had a
really good November going and then Thanksgiving came. Instead of Black Friday,
it was no Friday.
“At the end of the day, everything was very good. We did a
little better than 2010. We’re in the number one foreclosure city in the U.S.,
but even though we had our challenges, we still had a really good Christmas.
“We sold bigger stones. We had a lot of self-purchases for
women this year of fashion jewelry: some diamond jewelry and a lot of sterling
and price-point things. We stocked up on Hearts on Fire and it was a good thing
we did. We sold quite a few of the pendants and earrings.”
RONDA DAILY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER BREMER JEWELRY
PEORIA, ILLINOIS
“We’re pretty happy with this year. We beat 2010 by quite a
bit and we beat our projections by even more. We’re kind of back to 2007
levels. We had several events and it just started the week of Thanksgiving and
went straight on through. It was very consistent this year.
“People bought bigger items than they had the past three
years. We took on Pandora — this is only our second Christmas with the line —
and it was incredible. Diamond merchandise was fun, fun, fun. There wasn’t any
one thing; every department was up. Even color came back somewhat. We still had
some price-point things, but overall, people knew what they wanted to spend and
it wasn’t $199 anymore.”
MICHAEL STRAUB, OWNER
TREIBER & STRAUB
BROOKFIELD, WISCONSIN
“The season was fair, even with 2010. We did have some
substantial larger diamond sales, but overall, watches and fashion jewelry were
more popular — Rolex watches and David Yurman and John Hardy and that type of
thing were the strongest categories. In terms of traffic, more people came at
the very end on the last two days.”
SCOTT BERG, VICE PRESIDENT
LEE MICHAELS FINE JEWELRY
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
“Our season was good; we’re up close to double digits.
Diamonds were selling well, particularly diamond studs, and watches did very
well, with Rolex and Patek Philippe. We were up very well with David Yurman, as
far as core fashion jewelry. We had strong sales in gold as well, gold
bracelets with accents of diamonds. Across the board, sales were good.”
STEVEN WALLACH, OWNER
WALLACH JEWELRY DESIGNS
LARCHMONT, NEW YORK
“My year was better than 2010. There was less traffic but
bigger sales. Christmastime, it’s more fashion jewelry because it’s hard to do
custom things in time. Diamonds and gemstones were very good.We sold a big
diamond wedding band and a fancy intense yellow diamond ring.
“It always happens in a mad rush at the end. Sales are never
even. People are always concerned with the price, but then again, I did sell a
few larger items, which was very nice.”
JOE ASHCRAFT, OWNER/PRESIDENT
ASHCRAFT JEWELERS
MUNCIE, INDIANA
“It went very well. We actually had the second-best December
in 38 years. People were tired of not spending any money and they were out and
spending. Engagement business was up considerably — I sold more three-quarter
and carat stones at the end of November and in the month of December than I had
in the first eight or nine months of the year. And it was also a lot of fashion
jewelry sales: silver and gold, different lines like Andréa Candela and
Asch/Grossbardt, where somebody can spend from $300 to $1,200 and have a nice
piece of quality jewelry. A lot of the pieces had colored stones like citrine,
blue topaz, garnet. And some of them also had diamond accents.
“The one thing we saw a decrease in was our diamond studs,
which usually fly out, particularly the last two weeks of the season. That was
a little disappointing.”
JAN FERGERSON, CO-OWNER
FORD, GITTINGS & KANE
ROME, GEORGIA
“The holiday season started off strong, and then there was
this lull. We had some good interaction with people ahead of time and we were
ready for a really strong fourth quarter. But it was slow in coming. But those
last two days were exciting because people who had talked about doing some big
things for the past two or three years actually came in and did something big —
diamonds and nicer color sales.
“We haven’t finished our year yet…people are still coming
in. One of our sales team sold a diamond watch earlier today.”
RICHARD WHITE, OWNER
ED WHITE JEWELERS
CULLMAN, ALABAMA
“It was a good Christmas for us. We haven’t got all the
figures totaled yet, but I have a good feeling. I know we did better than 2010,
which really surprised me. We started seeing sales about December 10; it was
strong as far as traffic coming into the store and it never let up all the way
to the end.
“I was anticipating it being a sterling silver and 18-karat
gold designer goods Christmas and it was quite the opposite. People were coming
in and they wanted the nicer stuff. People who had money were tired of sitting
on it and they decided to move it and they came in and bought the nicer goods.
I was quite happy.
“Larger diamonds were selling; we had a lot more activity in
1 to 2 carats than we had had all year long. It was a good diamond year.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2012. To subscribe click here.