CHUCK STEEL, OWNER
STEEL’S JEWELRY
VALDOSTA, GEORGIA
“We’re definitely going to be restocking all of our loose diamond goods — we did a big business in diamond rings — and studs, which sold pretty well. We didn’t sell a lot of the smaller sizes, half carat and down; most everything was in the bigger sizes. Surprisingly, the alternative metals, stainless steel and that kind of thing by companies like Charriol, did very well for us and we will be restocking those. I’m sure we’ll have to replace several watches. Our watch business was better than normal — men were actually buying things again this year, which was great. I bought so heavily at the end of 2010, I don’t have to really restock most, but those were the items that had the highest traffic, the biggest sellers by volume.”
BRIAN S. MERKLEY, PRESIDENT
MERKLEY KENDRICK JEWELERS
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
“We’re always active on restocking our diamond studs and loose diamonds and Rolexes; that’s the big stuff. They are consistently our best sellers, including over the holidays. They’re the things I always make sure that we have. Then I’ll go through my fast-sellers and restock those.
“Our niche in the first place is the higher end, so our price points and our sizes skew toward that anyway, but this past Christmas, as opposed to 2010, we sold larger–ticket and larger pieces.”
PETER AHEE, PRESIDENT
EDMUND T. AHEE JEWELERS,
GROSSE POINTE WOODS, MICHIGAN
“We will be filling in on certain items. The main things that sold were watches — Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier, IWC — which were very superior to 2010 and we will replenish those. In diamonds, engagement rings did very well and diamond line bracelets in larger sizes, 5 carats to 12 carats total weight, and larger diamond studs, 2 carats all the way up to 7 carats and 8 carats total weight. We’ll be replenishing those.”
PATRICK DAOUD, OWNER
DAOUD’S FINE JEWELRY
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
“Diamond stud earrings, single line bangle diamond bracelets — those were really popular for the holidays. We specialize in a lot of pre-owned watches because people save money that way and that’s another thing we’re restocking. Diamond hearts were popular; bangles were popular and color was popular, too. We had a really, really busy Christmas. We sold a bunch of engagement rings for Christmas. So we’ll be restocking those.”
COLLEEN RAFFERTY, CO-OWNER
CHRISTENSEN & RAFFERTY FINE JEWELRY
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA
“Some of our medium-price pieces that were under $1,000 sold very well — gold earrings and a combination of gold and silver earrings. We also sold some really wonderful color in necklaces, earrings and bracelets — some in the $3,000 price points and above, as well as some in the $20,000 price range and above. We have a lot of customers who are self-purchasers and they were doing that at Christmas as well. We will be looking to restock those types of pieces.”
CATHY CALHOUN, OWNER
CALHOUN JEWELERS
ROYERSFORD, PENNSYLVANIA
“I’m mounting up a lot of my loose diamonds into my Calhoun Jewelers Private Label engagement rings. For the holidays, people went bigger in stone sizes. For the past two years, I was selling three-quarter carats and halves, which I didn’t normally do. And now, they’ve stepped up. I’ve noticed a change for larger sizes.
“I did real well with two lines of silver that I started to carry and I just restocked, and I’m loading up for Valentine’s Day. I’m doing some events and I’m expecting a good Valentine’s Day. I’m planning wine tastings and I’m going to have a chocolate fountain.
“One of the lines, ELLE, has gemstones and we’ve done very well with them and I’ve just restocked everything — necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings. It’s very high fashion. And then there’s a new Italian silver line, Officina Bernardi, that’s killer. It just walked out of my store. I reordered over 100 new pieces for Valentine’s Day. The base is sterling silver and it’s plated in platinum or 18-karat gold and it looks like diamonds. It’s fabulous.”
DAVID NYGAARD,
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
DAVID NYGAARD FINE JEWELERS
CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA
“We are predominantly a custom design house so we are restocking core products in loose diamonds. We are always looking for new interesting styles for bridal. Our business has shifted mostly to custom design bridal. We did have a few nice diamond pieces in fashion custom designs. I’m a ‘rockaholic,’ so I always have some interesting colored stones available that are loose stones that I design around, but most of what we’re geared to is loose diamonds and bridal.”
JONATHAN ZADOK, BUYER
ZADOK JEWELERS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
“I’m definitely restocking the basics: diamond studs, diamond pendants, those types of things…the basics within designer lines. I won’t be ordering anything too fashion-forward for awhile. This holiday season was a great year; fashion was back in force. It sold great, whereas, in the past couple of years, that wasn’t the case. Generally, earrings and necklaces sold best. Diamond studs always sell. The good news was that people were buying.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - February 2012. To subscribe click here.