Wholesalers have been clearing their vaults of stones that previously lay dormant. Alongside an increase in mined diamonds, customers have been taking a closer look at lab-grown as well. Even with inventory concerns, the mood was upbeat during the last month.
New York: Interest in fancy shapes
“A little is a lot better than nothing,” said Morris Szklarski, drawing a contrast with the last few months, when business was at a standstill. “It’s a great hour if we make a sale, and then we hope for the next hour.”
Szklarski, president of New York-based manufacturer Kelsol Diamond Co., has not been facing any inventory problems; on the contrary, he’s been selling fancy shapes that weren’t moving for quite some time. “Since no one is cutting these stones now, we’re seeing demand. For the longest time, a marquise was a dead item. Now, the last four or five stones I’ve sold have been marquises.”
While stones of less than 2 carats in fancies, and occasionally rounds, are moving, sales of the “real fine stones” remain elusive, he reported. Those six-figure sales would help with cash flow, which Szklarski admitted had been a serious problem during the shutdown but had since been improving. “People are asking about the larger stones, but they’re looking to buy at very cheap prices. I’m not willing to throw in the towel yet. Just like fancies came back, those will come back as well.”
There is always a pick-up in holiday sales, he noted, but it remains to be seen whether that will “make everyone happy.” Still, he thinks the market is headed in the right direction. “A lot of marginal people have dropped out, which leaves the rest of us standing. That can’t hurt.”
Chicago: Lab-grown selling
Ashish Soni is “very content” right now. Soni, the owner of manufacturer JAS Diamonds in Chicago, Illinois, has been “extremely busy,” and much of that business has been coming from lab-grown diamonds.
Soni, who sells both mined and lab-grown, described the demand for natural as “still pretty good” but hampered by a lack of inventory at a “reasonable price” — a problem he attributed to supply chain and shipping issues making it “tough to buy the quantities we need.”
Demand for lab-created stones, already evident in January and February, has continued to increase, helping Soni’s bottom line. Lab-grown is selling “across the board,” and “everything is moving because of the price differential,” he said. “People still want to celebrate. But times have been difficult, and they’re more likely to think about saving money regardless of their economic situation. People who may not have considered lab-grown before are now willing to buy one as a very good alternative.”
Encouraged by the overall increase in diamond demand, Soni predicted that “we’ll definitely have a positive holiday season. I think 2021 is going to be a really, really good year.”
Tampa: Shortages in longer stones
“March felt like someone pulled an emergency brake on the industry, and then we were hit by an artificial blanket price drop applied to all goods in a rather whimsical way by Rapaport, further slowing an already confused and depressed market,” declared Scott Terry, a partner at wholesaler Meridian Diamonds in Tampa, Florida. However, a “crazy surge” in May signaled that the market was in “reset mode,” making it feel “like it was 2019 again.”
Terry spoke from a 360-degree perspective; he and his brother, Jonathan, also sell directly to the public through their retail store, Edward Elise. Both their retail and wholesale operations have reflected spending on things versus experiences, Terry noted. Stones that “may have been in their vault a little too long” began to move well, given that overseas merchandise might be temporarily out of reach for US jewelry stores looking for goods on memo.
He pointed to a shortage of newly manufactured goods with finer makes, especially longer stones such as ovals, rectangular radiants and rectangular cushions, which are “definitely a challenge to keep in stock today.”
Terry has been trying to clear his inventory of bluffy, lower-quality and more included stones. “With the increasing acceptance of lab-grown, consumers in the lower price point seem to be opting for the more visually appealing triple-Ex, VS option over a lower-end natural diamond when choosing between stones of similar values.”
After what he described as a “great September,” Terry said he was “very happy” with the direction of sales to date and was feeling positive about the Christmas season. “Customers have money in their pockets, and they will spend it on something. Hopefully, they’ll spend it on a diamond.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - November 2020. To subscribe click here.