The 4Cs are not the only things that make a piece of diamond jewelry a sales winner. In an ongoing series, Rapaport Diamond Report explores the “3Ws” — what’s selling, what’s not and why — by going straight to the people who really know — jewelry retailers. Each month, we ask a sampling of retailers to comment on the important issues that are facing the industry today. Here is what they had to say in mid-November when asked: Are you stocking anything special for the holidays?
MARC SOLOMON, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
SOLOMONS JEWELERS
PLAINVIEW and ALBERTSON, NEW YORK
“Natural color diamonds are huge. We have the spectrum of Le Vian chocolate diamonds and we’ve expanded to other color diamonds, yellow and pink — I sold a fabulous green diamond the other day. This year, the most exciting part of our store is our natural color diamond products — earrings, rings, bracelets. In engagement rings, our mountings are set up for the yellows in the middle or white in the middle and yellows on the sides.
“I’m doing business in this economy because we carry an extensive line of product. I just became a Charles Krypell dealer for his sterling and 18-karat pieces for price points — it’s beautiful, well-made, well-priced product.”
BOB STREHLAU, GENERAL MANAGER
BOVE JEWELERS
KENNETT SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA
“For the holidays, in diamonds, we’ve stocked more than usual of the 1 carat to 1.25 carats. With the fashion jewelry, we have done better price points in different sections of the store — $100 to $500, $500 to $1,000. Customers can go to the sections that are within their budgets and our employees can help them from there. It has gone pretty well so far and people seem to stay a little longer in the store, whereas before they might have been overwhelmed by a $50,000 necklace.
“If they want silver, we’re very happy to help them. But we’re showing them that we can match up a whole suite — two pieces in silver or a three-piece suite of matching earrings, bracelet and necklace. Whether they get them all for Christmas or Chanukah or hold one for a birthday, it gives them great ideas. We’ve added the suites more heavily than any other year to do multiple sales. The silver pieces are with and without gemstones. We have six silver designers and they’re all different, so we can hit all tastes and budgets.”
MICHAEL MANISCALCO, GENERAL MANAGER
BAXTER’S FINE JEWELRY
WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND
“We are staying traditional, playing it close to the vest. In terms of diamonds, we were always a GIA (Gemological Institute of America) kind of store but now the inventory has changed for the market to EGL (European Gemological Laboratory).
“The inventory is smaller than it’s been in the past. It’s down to individual, identifiable pieces. I make sure I have what sells the best on hand and I don’t have as much of the fluff, which I might have carried in the past. We’re not necessarily focusing on price points but we have broadened silver — it’s definitely a more prominent part of the store. I don’t think I have a pair of gold earrings in the store; if someone wants it, I can get it for them. But people aren’t willing to pay the prices with gold so high. In terms of fashion, it’s a lot of silver with diamonds. We do Leslie Greene and that’s been really good and it has replaced the price point of gold jewelry — it’s higher-end pieces.
“I do a little bit with colored diamonds — we carry a few fancy yellows — but colored gemstones is very quiet for us. Bridal is great, very strong, and then it jumps to fashion silver.”
BOB SIROIS, PROPRIETOR
CLASSIQUE JEWELERS
FRISCO, TEXAS
“I feel very confident about this holiday season. My business is doing very well. One of the things we did for the first time this Christmas season is a catalog. And I have made so many wonderful sales already. Inside the catalog, I featured several different vendors — a page for each one.
“We decided to do Shimmering Diamonds; they are natural diamonds produced by Stuckey that move as you move, or even breathe. I think it’s going to do very well for Christmas. There are pendants and earrings. We’ve already sold several because of the catalog. My customers are very impressed with it. Another new line for us is Scott Kay men’s fashion in sterling and 18-karat. With the catalog, we’ve already sold many of the pieces. And we’ve always done Lorenzo colored stone pendants, earrings and rings; that’s a staple item for us. This year, I’ve invested in lots more diamond pendants, not so much earrings, through various vendors. And, of course, we have the Chamilia line in the store.
“In bridal, along with Natalie K, we’re stocking prototypes for the sterling silver Romance Bridal Collection for Kim International Manufacturing. And it’s unbelievable how well we’re doing with this. Customers choose the style they like and buy the center diamond from us. We order the mounting and then my jeweler sets the stones. It saves me a fortune in having to stock a ring loaded with diamonds that might not sell for eight months.”
JOHN HAYES, OWNER
GOODMAN’S JEWELERS
MADISON, WISCONSIN
“We’ve added a bit more to our sterling silver product lines so we have some lower price points to offer. And we’re currently looking at all of our inventory on hand by date and taking ads out on our older stock. We’re doing specials on them, combining reduction of price with the fact that these items were purchased at much lower gold prices — presenting them to our customers as good values for the holiday season.
“In diamonds, it’s always a good time for basic studs, so we’ll be putting together more of those both in color and white.”
MICHAEL BRYANT, PRESIDENT
BRYANT & SONS, LTD.
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA
“We’re sticking with a lot of the traditional inventory, but I’m concentrating on a lot more price-point merchandise, $2,000 to $5,000 retail — small diamond pendants, diamond earrings. Black diamonds have been a little more popular, a combination of black and white rings, pendants and bracelets. And then we have fancy yellows, but in larger stones, 2 carats and up. We have started selling some Charles Krypell silver and 18 karat, which we’ve never done before.
“We definitely are seeing sales improving and we’re selling things, but not as many of the big-ticket items as we did a few years ago. Price points of $2,000 to $10,000 seem to be the comfort zone.”
THOMAS JONES, OWNER
JONES & JONES JEWELERS
PORTLAND, OREGON
“We did put in a little bit of silver and other than that, we’re holding to what we’ve been doing. The past three months have been very, very quiet, so we haven’t been doing anything different because we can’t afford to. I’m a custom designer and I make up my own pieces but this year, because I’ve been busy trying to coordinate a move to a different location, I haven’t had the time to focus on anything different. We have taken in some silver pieces with gemstones — Rainbow Sapphire jewelry. And in diamonds, we’re selling the traditional earrings, fashion rings, engagement rings — nothing out of the ordinary.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2010. To subscribe click here.