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SurveysDec 21, 2014
For jewelers, just how super was Saturday?
Christmas came early for some jewelers making this last weekend before the holiday less busy, while others reported strong sales.
New York--For some jewelers, it seems that Santa came a bit early this year.
After getting off to a strong start, sales have tapered in recent week, leaving some retailers less busy than usual on the final Saturday before Christmas, known as Super Saturday. Others, however, reported that sales have remained strong since Black Friday weekend.
National Jeweler runs holiday sales roundups throughout the holiday season, interviewing jewelers by region: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, South Central and West.
Read on to see what jewelers in each region had to say about this past Saturday.
NORTHEAST
David Rotenberg of David Craig Jewelers in Langhorne, Pa., said that so far this holiday season, sales are running about even with last year’s, and the store had a slow Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.
“I had a pretty strong Black Friday weekend, but it was all for stuff that we had already been working on prior to that. So what I feared came to pass--I had a strong start but after the first weekend of December, it started falling off a little.”
Though he expects to continue to make sales up to Christmas Eve and through New Year’s, Rotenberg said that it’s possible that the store could end up slightly behind last year’s performance.
When looking at what his customers have been buying of late, he told National Jeweler that their first priority has been price.
The store has taken many of the pieces that haven’t been moving and put them into a sale case to make room for new inventory, and Rotenberg said that those sale pieces are selling out very quickly this holiday season.
Daniel Niebauer, meanwhile, said that Ralph Miller Jewelers & Gallery in Erie, Pa., had a great weekend, with strong sales and traffic on both Saturday and Sunday.
Many customers were coming in to buy “considerably larger items,” he said, like diamond earrings, diamond rings and colored gemstone pendants.
Now in its 115th year, Niebauer said that this may be the best Christmas that the store has had yet, noting that consumers in the area seem much more confident in spending, especially given the lower gas prices.
Additionally, he noted that they have seen much better weather this year.
Last year, bad winter weather across much of the Northeast slowed Christmas sales considerably but, with a 2014 winter that has yet to dump much
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ice and snow on customers, they’re coming out in numbers.
SOUTHEAST
Steve Allen of Allen’s Jewelers in Albany, Ga. also said that the store had a strong weekend, reporting a very strong Saturday and a “good” Sunday.
“We were really doing the whole gamut this weekend, but in particular we seemed to really be selling around the $1,000 price point over the weekend.”
While diamond pieces, particularly pendants, seemed to be the theme, Allen also noted that the store sold a lot of bracelets over the weekend, particularly those from the Alwand Vahan brand, which offers silver and gold bracelets set with diamonds and colored gems.
“Right now we’re a bit ahead of last year in the charts, and we’ll do a little between Christmas and New Year’s, so hopefully the figures will come in and we’ll find ourselves ahead of the game.”
MIDWEST
Randy Cole of the Diamond Vault of Troy in Troy, Mich. said that they were “slammed” on Saturday.
Cole also noted that they “definitely have the pressure on to finish a lot of things by Wednesday,” including setting stones and finishing other projects.
The retailer, which deals in mostly diamond jewelry, said that Saturday continued to be a major day for engagement ring sales, ranging anywhere from a $3,000 to a $40,000 ring. Cole notes that carrying Ideal Square Cut, FireMark, and FireCushion diamonds continue to set the store apart from competition and drive customers into the store.
Classic diamond studs also continued to be a hot seller over the weekend, he said, with price ranges again varying across the board as consumers purchased different sizes and styles for multiple piercings.
He added that he feels optimistic about the remainder of the holiday season.
“I woke up a couple of times last night thinking about all that we had to do this week. And we generally have an OK business between (Christmas and New Year’s), so I feel good about this year.”
At Longnecker Jewelry in McCook, Neb., Christmas came early this year.
“Saturday was good but not one of our better days,” said owner Bill Longnecker. “But, we’ve had an unusual holiday.”
The store had a big early Christmas this year due to a number of pre-holiday season sales and, thus, was not expecting these final days before Dec. 25 to be particularly strong. Diamond jewelry, particularly necklaces, were among the store’s top sellers, while colored gemstone sales were soft this year.
Longnecker, who has been in business for 20 years, adds that his store has made many small sales and many above-average sales but not much in between.
“There’s a window in the middle of the road. That $1,000 to $2,000 price range is nearly non-existent and we’ve got a store full of it,” he said.
SOUTH CENTRAL
As reported earlier in the year, jeweler Susan Eisen continues to see quality top quantity at her El Paso, Texas store, Susan Eisen Fine Jewelry and Watches.
SOUTHEAST
Steve Allen of Allen’s Jewelers in Albany, Ga. also said that the store had a strong weekend, reporting a very strong Saturday and a “good” Sunday.
“We were really doing the whole gamut this weekend, but in particular we seemed to really be selling around the $1,000 price point over the weekend.”
While diamond pieces, particularly pendants, seemed to be the theme, Allen also noted that the store sold a lot of bracelets over the weekend, particularly those from the Alwand Vahan brand, which offers silver and gold bracelets set with diamonds and colored gems.
“Right now we’re a bit ahead of last year in the charts, and we’ll do a little between Christmas and New Year’s, so hopefully the figures will come in and we’ll find ourselves ahead of the game.”
MIDWEST
Randy Cole of the Diamond Vault of Troy in Troy, Mich. said that they were “slammed” on Saturday.
Cole also noted that they “definitely have the pressure on to finish a lot of things by Wednesday,” including setting stones and finishing other projects.
The retailer, which deals in mostly diamond jewelry, said that Saturday continued to be a major day for engagement ring sales, ranging anywhere from a $3,000 to a $40,000 ring. Cole notes that carrying Ideal Square Cut, FireMark, and FireCushion diamonds continue to set the store apart from competition and drive customers into the store.
Classic diamond studs also continued to be a hot seller over the weekend, he said, with price ranges again varying across the board as consumers purchased different sizes and styles for multiple piercings.
He added that he feels optimistic about the remainder of the holiday season.
“I woke up a couple of times last night thinking about all that we had to do this week. And we generally have an OK business between (Christmas and New Year’s), so I feel good about this year.”
At Longnecker Jewelry in McCook, Neb., Christmas came early this year.
“Saturday was good but not one of our better days,” said owner Bill Longnecker. “But, we’ve had an unusual holiday.”
The store had a big early Christmas this year due to a number of pre-holiday season sales and, thus, was not expecting these final days before Dec. 25 to be particularly strong. Diamond jewelry, particularly necklaces, were among the store’s top sellers, while colored gemstone sales were soft this year.
Longnecker, who has been in business for 20 years, adds that his store has made many small sales and many above-average sales but not much in between.
“There’s a window in the middle of the road. That $1,000 to $2,000 price range is nearly non-existent and we’ve got a store full of it,” he said.
SOUTH CENTRAL
As reported earlier in the year, jeweler Susan Eisen continues to see quality top quantity at her El Paso, Texas store, Susan Eisen Fine Jewelry and Watches.
“It was great,” she said when asked how Saturday sales were, noting that the average ticket remains high. ”There’s more quality sales than quantity sales. That’s fine because we have tie to spend with each person.”
Though she always reserves judgment on the year as a whole until the final numbers roll in, sales are up over last year through Nov. 30, and Eisen expects to remain busy through the week.
“We’d like to be up [double digits] but that’s asking a lot in this economy,” she said.
Diamond earrings, slip-on bangles, tennis bracelets and yellow gold earrings have been among the big sellers at Stanley Jewelers Gemologist in North Little Rock, Ark. this holiday season.
Laura Stanley said the store was busy on Saturday, with strong foot traffic and customers who were happy to spend money.
WEST
“Saturday was great,” Seattle-area jeweler Steve Goldfarb said. “Saturday was everything we hoped it would be.”
The store, Alvin Goldfarb Jeweler in Bellevue, Wash., was busy all day and sold a high volume of moderately priced items in all categories. There was no one standout item or brand.
He said the store beat its expectations for the day and was open on Sunday. Though that day was slower than expected, Goldfarb noted that, “Saturday was good enough to make up for both of them.”
Sami Fine Jewelry in Fountain Hills, Ariz. celebrated the birthday of its founder, Sami, on Saturday, her daughter Stephenie Bjorkman, CEO of the store, said.
An annual event that “everybody likes,” Bjorkman said the party had people buying presents for themselves as well as stocking stuffers, though it didn’t quite top last year, when a customer bought a 4-carat diamond at the birthday party.
She does, however, have one customer interested in a large pair of diamond studs, which she hopes to sell this week. “We’ve been busy,” so the store expects to finish strong, Bjorkman said.
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