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U.S. Retail
By Lara Ewen
Retailers across the country reported a slight uptick in fall sales and traffic, but said that consumers were still cautious about spending too much before the holidays. While the end of the election season was a relief for many, regardless of political affiliations, the days immediately following the election provided more of an emotional benefit than a financial one. However, even the most optimistic jewelers were lukewarm about the coming December shopping season, with most hoping that it would simply be decent enough to offset an unpredictable retail year.
Most of 2016 was beset by spotty traffic and uneven sales. “Bumpy is a perfect word to describe the year,” said Andy Brown, co-owner of Waterfall Jewelers, with two locations in the Detroit Metro area. “We started off strong, then hit a slow summertime, and September and October were worse than usual. But since the election, it has been busier, because everybody panics, but once it’s over, it’s over.” Brown said that some of his budget lines were also trending downward. “We can’t keep Alex and Ani in stock, but Pandora is down 20 percent on the year,” he said. “We’re seeing more fashion pieces selling now. Pandora was perfect in a recession, but now things are on the upswing, and we don’t need lower-priced goods.” On the West Coast, sales were also unusually slow. “This year has been challenging,” said Ryan Krasner, vice president and marketing director at Harold Stevens Jewelers in San Diego, California. “Foot traffic is down, and you have clients who want to buy a diamond based on numbers as opposed to the beauty of the stone. So we’re down, but that can easily change with two or three larger sales.” Other retailers were seeing lower sales, but more transactions. “We’re a little bit down in actual dollar amount, but unit-wise, it’s up,” said Charla Hall, manager of Baker & Baker Jewelers in Marietta, Ohio, who also said a lot of people were buying gold. She added that sales were at both ends of the spectrum, but rarely in the middle. “Eighty percent of people either want Hearts On Fire or Alex and Ani, which is still selling out,” she said. “It’s either a $2,800 piece or a $28 piece. But you can’t give away beads. All that stuff is so done.” Alex and Ani has also been a big seller in the Northeast, but Kevin Gorkofsky, owner of Kevin Edward Jewelers in Avon, Connecticut, said that’s beginning to change. “This year, numbers have been consistent with 2015,” he said. “We have Alex and Ani, and that brought in a lot of traffic in its heyday, but that is trending down now. People want real jewelry again.” For some retailers, 2016 has been a building year. Marc Feder, owner of Jay Feder Jewelers, is set to open a new store in Boca Raton, Florida, in mid-December, which will join his current retail store in Denver, Colorado, as well as his New York City–based wholesale operation. “I’ve had to reassess a lot of things,” he said. “Business was soft at the beginning of the year, but we’ve come back for the second half, and I’m really optimistic.” Feder, who has invested heavily in small, independent jewelry lines for his Boca Raton store, said he wants to see the industry as a whole do better for consumers. “Every time a store shuts down, I look at it as an opportunity, but it also upsets me, because that’s one more store that’s not promoting jewelry,” he said. “It’s a crumbling of the infrastructure.”
Store owners hoped the holidays would make up for a sluggish year, but were not overly optimistic. Krasner anticipated tepid numbers. “Holiday sales will be flat,” he said. “I think ‘okay’ is the right term.” Gorkofsky also expected a flat Christmas. “We’ve come through the toughest part of the year,” he said. “The election is over and the President-elect says he’s going to decrease taxes. This Christmas will be on par with last year, but there’s still uncertainty. And we need to help Middle America go back to buying jewelry.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2016. To subscribe click here.
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