|
|
U.S. Retail
By Lara Ewen
Despite a recovering, healthy economy and national elections that are a year away, some consumers have been behaving skittishly at the register. A few store owners and managers said that 2015 had been unpredictably up and down throughout the year, with no identifiable patterns. Others, though, saw very strong bridal sales, and watched small sales and occasional big-ticket purchases add up. Holiday forecasts were cautious all around, in part due to disappointing Decembers for the past several years. However, jewelers as a rule seemed optimistic that even an unsteady year would ultimately end well, with even slight overall gains considered a gift in uncertain times. Overall, the general consensus was that the year would end at least even with — if not better — than 2014.
The good months and bad months seemed to have averaged out, but left some store owners with a sense that consumers were still uncomfortable spending money. “For us, 2015 has just been average,” said Rick Hamann, executive vice president of Sartor Hamann, with three stores in Nebraska. “There’s been some months we’ve been up and some months we’ve been flat. I think for us, we’re still pretty agriculturally based, even though we’re in a city, and agricultural prices haven’t been as strong as they used to be. Those dollars trickle down. And also, I think people are nervous about the economy and the stock market, and they don’t want to spend money when they’re nervous. So we don’t see a lot of risk taking.” The year was also bumpy down south in Miami, despite the area’s construction boom. “This year’s been up and down,” said H. Bredemeier, owner of H & H Jewels in Coconut Grove, Florida. “Certain months have been stellar and some have been wishy-washy. Here in Miami, business should be exploding because of all the real estate construction, so I can’t put my finger on why it’s not. But I also hear that jewelry chains are down 10 percent or 11 percent year on year. And though we’re currently down over 2014, bigger items are selling better than smaller items, so that helps us. I think the wealthy people are still spending.” Some business owners have chosen to take a laissez-faire attitude about sales figures, focusing on being satisfied with a healthy business rather than fretting about constant improvements. “Business has been good,” said Penn Fix, owner of Dodson’s Jewelers in Spokane, Washington. “In order to sleep at night, we don’t feel like we have to do better every year. I don’t even know who thought up that idea, especially in the jewelry business. If we get one or two or three really significant sales in a year, can we expect to get that again? No. So we’re exactly where we expect to be this year, and we’re making decent money. Last year, it started to get quiet in September, and it stayed quiet. This year we’re doing better for fall. So in the end, it’s all great.”
In some parts of the country, such as New York City, business has been very strong. “2015 has been good,” said Tara Silberberg, co-owner of The Clay Pot, with two locations in New York City. “Our new store in Nolita has been gaining traction and we’re seeing strong bridal sales coming out of there. And Brooklyn continues to be a powerhouse. Every year, business is slightly different because things in our world change, but the housing market in Brooklyn is insane, and my customers feel very secure in their wealth if they own real estate here. So they come back. And nobody tells you this, but the anniversary market is really good, unless you really blew the wedding sale. Anniversary is practically a given sale. And people always seem to find us.” Bridal was also a very strong success in Baltimore. “Our year has been going really, really well, except for the Baltimore riots, which of course made our May awful,” said Amanda Coleman-Phelps, general manager at Nelson Coleman Jewelers, located in Towson, Maryland. “Apart from that, we have hit our goals every month. But December is usually a hard month, so we hope to hit our goals then, too. In this industry, the only occasion for which 99 percent of people will definitely buy jewelry is engagement, so we’ve been investing heavily in our engagement customer.”
Over the past few years, December has moved from being a sure-sale month to being a surprisingly tough time. “The holidays over the past two or three years have been a battle,” said Hamann. “We’ve had to sweeten the pot with gifts with purchase, like iPads and iPods and flat screen TVs. We’ve had to work for that dollar for the holidays, but it’s paid off.” Still, in the Northwest, Fix was philosophical. “Christmas is going to be just fine,” he said. “We see no reason we shouldn’t do well, just so long as the politicians don’t do distracting stuff in December, like shut down the government.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - November 2015. To subscribe click here.
|
|
|
|