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U.S. Retail
By Lara Ewen
The year continued to provide mixed reports from retailers. For some, sales were bumpy through the summer and rebounded in September. For others, the year has been up overall, in large part due to the extra attention retailers paid to their online stores and social media. Although the election was on everyone’s minds, no one seemed to think it was having an unexpected or unusual influence on sales. Most retailers were confident that whatever the result in November, holiday 2016 would bring good news all around.
The general consensus is that sales were unpredictable, but business was still brisk. “It’s been a weird time,” said Benny McNair, owner of McNair Jewelers in Gadsden, Alabama. “Some times are slower than others, but the majority of what we do is custom and that keeps us busy.” McNair, who said customers are spending $8,000 when they used to spend $20,000, said that even so, business wasn’t bad. “We’re a busy store and it seems like we’re up from last year. So far, I’ve been pleased and this summer was stronger than 2015.” Lower tickets and decent traffic were also the case elsewhere in the country. “Our sales are smaller,” said Debra Schultz, co-owner of Dodson’s Jewelers in Spokane, Washington. “We’ve had some fabulous months and we’ve had some not-so-fabulous months. Two years ago, we were up 30 percent and now, we’re in line to have a perfectly fine year. But it’s slow and steady, not spectacular. We have plenty of people coming in, but it’s different. People who used to spend $8,000 are now spending $5,000.” Schultz, who has been doing especially well with estate pieces, said the store was about to celebrate 130 years in business. “We became a business before Washington became a state,” she said. “So for us, estate stuff is doing really well because young people like the history, and we have a bunch of settings from the 1950s.”
For H. Bredemeier, owner of H & H Jewels in Coconut Grove, Florida, summer was slow, but he wasn’t worried. “The beginning of the year was extremely strong,” he said. “Then summer got quiet; even slower than normal. A lot of people left town this year. And then in September, it was busy again.” Bredemeier said that he was feeling positive about the months to come, and he didn’t think the election was making a difference either way. “Listen, it’s been good,” he said. “Real estate is strong, and overall, the economy is decent down here, and we’re already catching up on last year.” The West Coast also saw an unusually slow summer, although overall sales were strong. “Business so far this year has been good,” said Jim Jessop, owner of Jessop’s in San Diego, California. “We’re up 4 percent for the year to date, which is good considering the fact that June and July were real soft months — much softer than normal. But August took off like gangbusters and it was the strongest we’ve had in ten years.” Jessop said that he’s put a lot of energy into his website, and that his estate sales were strong, as was bridal. And he’s philosophical about the coming election, even though he worried that it’s had a dampening effect on his sales. “We have a history of being able to recover from every kind of catastrophe,” he said. “Yes, we’ll pull out of it, no matter who wins. But will it take us a month or four years? I don’t know. When people have an excuse to purchase less, they will.”
By contrast, for Amanda Coleman-Phelps, owner and general manager at Nelson Coleman Jewelers, located in Towson, Maryland, sales were extremely strong. “2016 is going very well,” she said. “When I do the numbers in product sales, we’re up 30 percent year-on-year.” Coleman said her estate sales were very strong. “We turn our estate and vintage inventory a lot,” she said. “It’s a huge upkeep on our website, but our estate pieces are a tremendous pull for our clients.” Coleman also said that her store’s enhanced digital strategies were helping to boost engagement as well as sales. “Our biggest competition isn’t other jewelers,” she said. “It’s life. Customers might be buying a dishwasher instead of jewelry. So we hired someone to focus on our ecommerce and we have as much of our inventory on the web as possible. It’s all about connecting with a wider audience.” Article from the Rapaport Magazine - October 2016. To subscribe click here.
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