RAPAPORT... As we head into the holiday shopping season, it appears that prospects are looking up. Some upscale New York City jewelry retailers are reporting that they have seen an uptick in sales that started around July of this year. One tony Madison Avenue jeweler even noted that sales this year were 20 percent ahead of last year. A number of designer/manufacturers have concurred that business began to pick up in stops and starts over the summer and has continued to gain momentum. Sotheby’s and Christie’s jewelry auctions have been strong globally, with Christie’s recent New York sale total reaching a near-record high, while setting a record per-carat price for the 32-carat D Flawless Annenberg diamond.
Consumers at the high end and even the middle-income levels are clearly spending money — stores are crowded and restaurants are packed. While the U.S. economy is crawling out of a recession and unemployment is at an all-time high of 10 percent, 90 percent of people do have jobs and are beginning to spend again. The mainstream media screams bad economic news on a daily basis. Certainly for those who are unemployed or underemployed, these are the worst of times and some areas of the country are much harder hit than others. Yet, it seems that the U.S. economy is gaining strength — the gross national product has grown over the past couple of months, the stock market is heading up. Consumers are out there spending. While there is much focus on the emerging markets of India and China, they are just that — emerging markets. They still do not have the spending power or the inclination to spend in the same way as the U.S. consumer, who is culturally indoctrinated to spend, spend and spend some more. While we won’t know the final outcome of the holiday shopping season for several more weeks, it seems as if it could well be a happy holiday.
Amber Michelle
Editor in Chief
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2009. To subscribe click here.