Valentine’s Day sales as unpredictable as love

“I like it, but I don’t get it, and I don’t like not getting it,” said Rossi. “We all want to understand it so we can figure it out. If it were that easy, we’d all be Tiffany’s.”  

Similarly, Eddie Guerboian, who owns Readers Fine Jewelers in Santa Monica, Calif. with his wife Evelyn, said they didn’t do any promoting but managed to top last year’s Valentine’s Day sales. 

He said he believes his window displays drew in customers, as does his store’s high ranking on Google and strong Yelp reviews. 

Also helping in this day and age, both Guerboian and Rossi agreed, is being a long-standing, family-owned business. 

“People feel comfortable with a family-owned business,” Guerboian said. 

David Rotenberg of David Craig Jewelers in Langhorne, Pa. said that traffic in the store in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day was pretty light for them.

On Friday, many people in the store were purchasing items under $500 he said, with most purchases falling under $200. Then on Saturday, a lot of customers were in the story buying up until about 3 p.m. when it dropped off a little, but sales were stronger for the day, with many tickets between $3,000 and $4,000.

Popular sellers this Valentine’s Day at the store were pieces from Heather B. Moore and classic diamond pieces, with most pieces in 14-karat gold and fewer in sterling silver.

“As a whole, Valentine’s Day wasn’t what it was in 2014. Even if I discount the weather that we had last year, it was a bit of a feeding frenzy. It just wasn’t that way this year.”

For Evan James Deutsch of Evan James Ltd. in Brattleboro, Vt., the weather hurt foot traffic but the average ticket was much higher than last year, leading total sales to come out ahead of last year’s.

“If we had had normal traffic levels, it would’ve been like Christmas for us,” he said.

Deutsch said that the store did minimal advertising. They see Valentine’s Day as a “two-day holiday,” so the store held off until two days before and then started running ads on Thursday, via radio, print, and social media.

Diamond studs, diamond heart pendants and engagement rings were top-sellers for Evan James Ltd., with most of the tickets falling between $300 and $1,000, excluding bridal. Alex and Ani’s popularity also continued for them. “Those sales didn’t make or save the day, but they certainly helped drive traffic to the store,” Deutsch said.

Steve Allen of Allen’s Jewelers in Albany, Ga., also said that the store did really well this Valentine’s Day. The store decided to stop carrying Pandora last year and, without that inventory on the floor, the average ticket price was up this year, Allen said.

Most consumers were buying pieces priced between $500 and $1,500.

Their top sellers were diamond halo pendants, similar to what many other jewelers across the country were seeing. Though Allen said they didn’t see much activity in colored gemstones, they did sell a few ruby pieces and also a few engagement rings, which he said isn’t common for them at this time of the year.

They also sold a good amount of Alwand Vahan bracelets in sterling silver, priced between $200 and $300.

But where Allen’s store had a great Valentine’s Day, James Alperin Jewelers in Pepper Pike, Ohio, had a different story. 

“We had very little business for Valentine’s Day,” owner Jim Alperin said. “I think this was in part due to our community; I just don’t think people want jewelry as much these days.”

He added that he believes most people are looking for cheaper presents for the holiday, generally around $50 or less, which means they don’t think to go to their local jewelry store to buy a gift.

“Last year, we ran an ad featuring a $115 bracelet around Christmastime, and we sold out all of them. We ran the same ad for Valentine’s Day, just changing the wording, and we didn’t sell one of them. What was a good Christmas present was an expensive gift at Valentine’s Day.”