What are your plans for the holidays?

Two retailers share their strategies for the season to come.

By Phyllis Schiller

THERESA MURPHY
OWNER, NEWSTAR JEWELERS
JOLIET, ILLINOIS We are sticking with our usual vendors for the holidays but pulling out more unique styles; that’s what we usually look at for Christmas, something a little bit bigger. We also try to find a few lower-priced items so we have something in that lower price point as well. The average price tends to be between $2,500 and $3,500. But then there are the higher-price-point items for certain customers.

“Diamond stud earrings and bracelets were very popular for us last year. So we will stock up on those, especially bracelets. We carry a couple of fashion lines, and we tend to do pretty well with those as well. “Our bread-and-butter fashion pieces are basic diamond hoops and everyday-type diamond pendants. The diamond hoops range in sizes from small huggies up to large 1.5-inch hoops.

“Custom in general is big for our store. We do a lot of custom items through the year, but not quite as much during the holidays. People want to come in and look and see and buy. They don’t usually plan ahead for Christmas.

“We do continuous promotion with coupons we send to our customer list, and it’s always well received. We send out the coupons right after Thanksgiving. We tried a different promotion last year that didn’t work out well. It was a cruise giveaway with purchase, and it wasn’t as popular for us.

“As far as my expectations for this holiday season? I just have my fingers crossed that it turns out to be a good one.

SUSAN PURNELL
OWNER, KUHN’S JEWELERS
SALISBURY, MARYLAND We had a great Christmas last year, so I don’t have any complaints from either a marketing or an inventory standpoint. But certainly, things can always improve.

“I think gold — yellow gold — is coming around and I’m seeing more requests for that in all kinds of jewelry, including bridal. And rose gold, as well. Ovals and cushions are the diamonds to stock for bridal.

“I have a lot of fashion-forward silver lines with gold and rose-gold overlays. We’re doing very well with anything stackable, that’s another big trend — particularly stackable bracelets. Threaders — earrings that thread right through your ears — sell as fast as I get them in, even in gold. We’ve gotten in tons of them. Silver price points can be $50 and the gold price point is $400.

“Colored stones, all colors, need to be represented...especially rubies, emeralds, sapphires, aquamarines and now morganites. I try to pick the best color I can find and have it represented in all types of jewelry. I want to make sure I have the full spectrum of that.

“My best marketing idea for Christmas is to buy the front page and seven or eight pages inside of our local magazine that stays on the shelf from November 29 through December 29. I make that my ‘catalog.’ It’s distributed to 35,000 to 40,000 people in the area. Customers will come in with a page torn from the issue and say that’s what they want to buy. I think last year, we sold everything we advertised.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - September 2019. To subscribe click here.

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