Buying discipline at trade shows starts with clarity about your inventory levels, Smith writes.
Go!
Shame on you if you're reading this column. Pick the ball back up, put that shoulder down, and get back in the store! As Black Friday draws to a close, marked by tired feet, aching lower backs and waning powers...
Shame on you if you're reading this column. Pick the ball back up, put that shoulder down, and get back in the store!
As Black Friday draws to a close, marked by tired feet, aching lower backs and waning powers of speech, Saturday and Sunday of the year's most important weekend spread out before us, like ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.
The battle for the consumer's budget has already been raging for several weeks. The big guys, both online and physical, recognized that the growing competition, thanks in large part to the Internet, would lead those seeking an unfair share of holiday spending to ramp up early.
Circulars, other print ads and broadcast ads have been vying for attention. Huge mailed pieces arrived in the Thanksgiving Day newspaper to follow up.
I was out, as the rest of my family and guests slept, at 6 this morning, ready to get the deals. You may have guessed, since I'm writing this at 9:45 p.m. on a holiday Friday, that I picked up some new computer equipment that wouldn't let me sleep until tried out.
So there I was, and here I am, off to a good start for Holiday 2006 Retail Season. I hope the barnstormers arrived at your locales, setting their scopes on diamond-encrusted circles, freshwater pearls and, might I be so bold, Journey pieces.
Anyway, if you are reading this, enough. Back to it. There will be time to sleep in January. Best luck and happy holiday retailing to you all!
To drop me a line on how you're doing: wsielaff@nationaljeweler.com
The Latest

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The addition of the diamond-producing countries as nation affiliated members broadens the federation’s global representation, WFDB said.

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Designer Viviana Langhoff has realized her dream of owning a space for her Chicago jewelry store that looks and feels like her brand.

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Former Stephanie Gottlieb Fine Jewelry executive Morgan P. Richardson is joining the lab-grown diamond jewelry brand.

The $400 pocket watch is a blend of Audemars Piguet’s iconic eight-sided Royal Oak and Swatch’s unserious Pop watches from the ‘80s.

With gold prices on the rise, the “Modern Electrum” collection uses an alternative, non-tarnishing metal alloy composed of gold and silver.

Fruchtman Marketing has new owners, Erin Moyer-Carballea and Manuel Carballea, and will relocate to Miami.

In a column for the 2026 State of the Majors issue, Smith lists 10 time-tested principles about sales that still ring true.

In a column for the 2026 State of the Majors issue, Golan spells out how the growing economic divide in the U.S. is reshaping the market.

The “Limitless Expansion of Joy and Hope” collection evokes summer through colored gemstones and motifs of butterflies and florals.

The jewel, circa 1890, is from the late Victorian era and was owned by descendants of the last high king of Ireland.

This is what the nine recipients plan to do with the funds.

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The discussion, "Rebuilding the Jewelry Workforce," will take place on Saturday, May 16, in Troy, Michigan.

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