What’s Selling in Jewelry Stores in December

also said that he’s benefitted from the national advertising campaign behind the two-stone rings.

Overall, though, it’s been a slow holiday season at his store, due to consumers having less discretionary income and Internet competition taking away sales from brick-and-mortar stores. He said what has been selling are diamond earrings and bracelets and custom pieces, including the store’s hand-hammered bangle bracelets. 

Also not helping, in Allen’s opinion, is the 80-degree weather they’ve been having in Georgia. “When people are walking around in shorts and T-shirts, it’s hard to feel like Christmas,” he said.

At Mervis Diamond Importers, which has a total of three stores in Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland, sales are on par with last year.

Jonathan Mervis said the store is selling the usual, engagement rings, diamond stud earrings and other gifts in the $2,000 to $4,000 range.

He said he understands other retailer’s concerns about the too-warm-for-December weather not making it feel like Christmas, but said he’ll take clear skies and roads over snow, which makes people want to stay at home and shop online even more.

“I think people talk about the weather setting the mood. I’ll say the opposite though: I’d rather have this any day,” Mervis said.

MIDWEST
Despite a strong year overall, “It’s been a lackluster December for us,” said Bill Longnecker, owner of Longnecker Jewelry in McCook, Neb., noting that the store is down 38 percent so far this month. “Christmas has kind of bombed on us.”

In his area, warmer weather pushes people to the nearby big metropolitan areas, Denver and Lincoln, Neb., to do their shopping, despite the store’s urging people to “shop local.”

Inventory-wise, he said he has had three or four customers come in asking about two-stone rings but has only sold one so far, which he did as a special order.

Longnecker said he doesn’t invest in inventory until he sees a real demand for the product, which he hasn’t for the two-stone rings, yet. “It’s a step in the right direction, though,” he said. “We are glad to see the national ad campaigns are starting to do something. That’ll help, for sure.”

In Toledo, Ohio, “Business was good, but I wouldn’t say it was spectacular,” Jeff Mann of Jeffrey Mann Fine Jewelers said of the weekend. “I’m not sure if it was slower, or if my expectations were just too high.”

Admittedly, Mann said his store can be tough to measure against others. “We play in a little different of an arena. We don’t typically have as many transactions as a normal store, and our ticket prices are substantially higher. That’s what we’ve built.”

Still, the store carries, and this weekend saw, “strong” sales of Simon G and Lagos jewelry, as well as Forevermark diamond pendants and earrings. As Christmas looms closer, Mann said his bridal business gets bigger, with customers going for 1 carat-and-up diamonds.

“We’ve been having an awesome holiday season (overall),” he said. “We’ve been running double-digit gains, which evened out a bit this weekend; we were up 5 or 6 percent coming into yesterday.”

Mann said he sees a strong finish ahead. “I think that there’s a lot of holiday shopping to be done. I’m highly optimistic.”

SOUTH CENTRAL
Sales are up about 10 percent for the holiday season at Lewis Jewelers in Moore, Okla., President Glenn Lewis told National Jeweler.

Colored stone sales were big at the store over the weekend, namely pendants and rings set with blue topaz, imperial (precious) topaz and emerald.

“A lot of the color we’ve had for a while, so it’s nice to move that out,” Lewis said. “Here in Oklahoma it’s an oil economy, and I think a lot of people downsize from diamonds to color as we’ve seen a lot of layoffs in the last few months.”

Still, engagement ring also were popular purchases the past few days. Lewis Jewelers has about 3,200 semi-mounts in stock, both their own and branded designs, and usually “sell about eight a day anyway,” Lewis said. “On Saturday we sold about 16, with center stone diamonds weighing between 3/4 and 2.12 carats.”

This year, however, he’s been noticing a different kind of trend in the diamond department.

“A lot more people are coming in to set diamonds they bought off the Internet,” he said. “They come in for the mounting and setting, and it’s a pretty good service for us, but we’re seeing more of this now than in any other year.”

Lewis Jewelers will be until 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, which typically turns into 5 p.m. “The guys wait until the last minute,” he said.

Over in Fort Smith, Ark., jeweler Kelly Newton sold three Rolexes in about an hour Sunday. “We opened on Sunday for the convenience, but for three people to come in and buy (Rolexes) was unexpected, and a very nice surprise,” he said.

In addition to the Rolexes, diamond studs and pendants also were popular purchases over the weekend. “We can’t seem to keep diamond studs in stock,” he said, noting that he carries Forevermark. “I bet we sold a dozen last week, from half-carat studs to a carat-and-a-half.”

Newton said his store, Newton’s Jewelers, will be open until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, which can be a “crazy” day, as many out-of-towners visiting family come in to buy gifts at his store.

For the season to date, he said he thinks the store is making gains over last year. “I wouldn’t say we’re a lot ahead, but I think we’re ahead.”

WEST
Sales were “all over the board” at Hart Jewelers in Grants Pass, Ore. this weekend, the largest-ticket item being an estate diamond necklace that sold for more than $3,000.

“Sunday was quiet, but I think it’s because we aren’t usually open on Sundays,” owner Tom Hart said. “Saturday was a great day, and all of last week was great, too.”

The jeweler said bridal hasn’t been performing as well as he expected for the season--“normally we do a little better,” he said--but it’s been “steady,” and the store is up year-over-year when it comes to holiday sales.

This week should be a good one for him, Hart said, as it’s usually when he sees the procrastinators.

It “finally became Christmas” at Alvin Goldfarb Jeweler in Bellevue, Wash. this weekend, President Steve Goldfarb said Monday, with Thursday through Sunday all “really good days.”

Goldfarb’s store, which sells jewelry and watches, saw a “fair amount” of colored stone jewelry sales, namely pieces set with sapphire, emerald and ruby. Pearl strands and other pearl jewels by Mikimoto also were top sellers, and the store sold out of its Roberto Coin pieces from the Pois Moi collection.

The jeweler said he also sold some watches, Rolex and Breitling among the brands he carries, and diamonds in a range of sizes.

Goldfarb did say the one thing he’s missing this season is the sale of a big-ticket item, the one that “gets you so far over your goal that it makes your day,” but expects today and Tuesday to be busy but has  lower expectations for Wednesday and Thursday, the last day he’s open this week.

“I’m encouraged because the (holiday season) did start out lackluster,” he said. “It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good, but I’m encouraged, and hopefully other retailers out there stay encouraged.”