Strong Start Has Jewelers Hopeful for the Holidays
By Brecken Branstrator, Ashley Davis, Lenore Fedow & Michelle Graff
December 3, 2020
[i]"New York—This week, National Jeweler contacted a dozen retailers spread across five regions of the United States to ask them, how is the holiday season going so far?
The independent jewelers gave generously of their time to tell our editors about their bestsellers, foot traffic, online browsing leading to quick in-store buying, health and safety measures, and how COVID-19 has changed their businesses, possibly permanently.
Read on to learn more about what they had to say.
Northeast: An Early Rush
All three retailers with stores in the Northeastern U.S. say Christmas has come early this year and they’re optimistic about the season ahead, with money not being spent on travel or eating out hopefully funneled to fine jewelry.
Jewelers in Boston, suburban New York City and Erie, Pennsylvania all report strong sales on Black Friday—not usually a busy day for buying fine jewelry—and the following day, Small Business Saturday.
They all attribute their early-in-the-season success to uncertainty.
Consumers aren’t sure what the rest of the holiday season might bring in terms of COVID-19 numbers spiking and lockdown orders being reissued—not to mention potential shipping delays with so many people shopping online this year—so they want to buy their gifts now.
“Especially in New York, there’s a sense that everyone doesn’t know if we’re going to be shut down. The clients who are out and about are interested in being a little more organized,” says Dawn Hendricks, owner of Peridot Fine Jewelry in Larchmont, New York.
“I think that’s definitely on a lot of people’s minds: don’t wait too long.”
Anticipating clients might want to shop earlier this year, she pushed forward the publication of the store’s holiday lookbook and continues to put a lot of energy into her store’s website.
Hendricks says she’s always focused on her website, which is ultimately what enabled her store to survive the months-long shutdown in New York state earlier this year.
“In the past, people were a little more conservative with their money. Now, they’re unsure what the future holds and they want to say ‘I love you’ now.”
— Daniel Niebauer, Ralph Miller Jewelers & Gallery
Meanwhile, up in Boston, “We’re pretty bullish,” says Megan Flynn, who owns M. Flynn with sister Moria. “I think the consumer is feeling a lot of pressure to do this early (shop) because they don’t know what’s coming.”
Like Peridot in New York, M. Flynn is coming off a strong Black Friday weekend, where a promotion on an earring style the store makes in-house got their customers excited. (Earrings were strong sellers for both Peridot and M. Flynn, which is understandable given the amount of time we all now spend on video-conferencing platforms like Zoom.)
Megan says her store has pivoted to appointment-only because of the pandemic, a change the store might make permanent. Appointments feel more secure, she says, and attract serious shoppers for whom they can be completely prepared.
M. Flynn also made another change it’s considering keeping after the pandemic subsides.
Megan and Moria opened up a pop-up in the empty warehouse space next to the store that functions strictly for order pick-up. Megan says many of her customers are parents who are now homeschooling their children on top of working full time so they want to be able to just drive by and pick it up.
“We think that might be a very good thing for us to have going forward,” she says.
In Erie, Pennsylvania, Ralph Miller Jewelers & Gallery had “probably one of the best shop-small Saturdays and Black Fridays we’ve ever had,” says Vice President of Operations Daniel Niebauer.
Customers who visited the store mainly purchased larger-ticket items—big diamond bracelets and earrings.
“In the past, people were a little more conservative with their money. Now, they’re unsure what the future holds and they want to say ‘I love you’ now,” he says.
Ralph Miller Jewelers actually has been filing custom orders for Christmas since the end of June, for the same reason all three jewelers think they had such a strong sales over the weekend.
“Panic,” Niebauer puts it simply. “A lot of people were thinking ahead, at least in our neck of the woods.”
Southeast: A Strong Start
The Thanksgiving weekend was a good one for Beré Jewelers in Pensacola, Florida, which topped its sales performance from 2019, according to Barry Cole.
Cole attributes the success of the weekend in part to the store’s continued marketing efforts throughout the pandemic—a time when, he believes, many small businesses pulled back—keeping Beré front of mind, especially when holiday shopping started.
While the store didn’t do any marketing for Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday, it did offer a few Black Friday deals that brought in shoppers, like Pandora at 75 percent off (the retailer is closing its business with the company) and 20 percent off almost all other merchandise.
Cole says the sale brought in a “decent amount” of bridal customers who weren’t getting married until later in 2021 but wanted to take advantage of the deal.
The holiday weekend was also popular for yellow gold, custom orders, watches—Breitling did well and Omega was “on fire,” Cole says—and Freida Rothman jewelry for price-point driven purchases.
He says he is optimistic about the remainder of the season.
“What we found throughout all the other holidays and occasions (this year) is that people will wait and wait and then at the last minute say, ‘OK, we’re going to go shop.’”
“While it is a challenge to provide extraordinary service online as well as in the store, it is our charge. We feel the success of the future depends on it.”
— Rhett Outten, Croghan’s Jewel Box
Carreras Jewelers in Richmond, Virginia decided several years ago to close on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, since the latter is usually about deeply discounted electronics and the like.
This year, the store was only open the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Saturday after, and those two days did a little better for the store in terms of sales, General Manager Tami Toms tells National Jeweler.
She notes several of the sales during those two days were pick-ups that had been in the works for several weeks.
When asked what consumers were buying, she added that there didn’t seem to be any specific styles or price points trending, with shopping across the board.
While many articles on retail this year have talked about the boom in online spending during the pandemic, Toms says for Carreras Jewelers, spending remains largely in store.
However, the retailer is encouraging customers to make appointments to make them feel like they’re getting a private showing and to indicate Carreras is trying to keep in-store crowds to a minimum.
While the jeweler hasn’t had to turn away anyone who has walked in, encouraging appointments has better allowed for social distancing in the store.
Croghan’s Jewel Box, meanwhile, is currently open by appointment only.
So, the team at the Charleston, South Carolina store is “very happy that we were able to come within a few thousand dollars of last year’s sales for the weekend,” Rhett Outten tells National Jeweler, especially since the store was not “overwhelmingly crowded” over the weekend, as it has been in years past.
Croghan’s is also seeing “exciting growth” on its website.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the store added a chat button to the site as well as AfterPay to allow for an installment payment plan option. The store also added curbside service and local delivery added as options this year.
Outten says that though e-commerce business remains a small part of overall revenue, 90 percent of customers who walk into the store or contact it have been on the website and are ready to buy. That is especially true this year, when customers are planning ahead of time for efficiency.
“Having a good website and social media presence is crucial in helping the customer be prepared. They can preview you online and have a good idea of price range and product. This pre-shopping goes a long way in keeping our staff and customers safe.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Outten says she expects a strong final push for 2020.
“It is all about personal service and providing something that Amazon cannot,” she says. “We are a high- touch industry and while it is a challenge to provide extraordinary service online as well as in the store, it is our charge. We feel the success of the future depends on it.”
Midwest: Hopeful Start to the Holidays
In Minnesota, R.F. Moeller Jewelers saw foot traffic over the holiday weekend decline significantly across its two locations.
Small Business Saturday didn’t do much to bolster those numbers, but the weekend wasn’t a wash.
“People that come in are buyers,” says President Bob Moeller. “Generally, the average ticket is higher.”
Moeller expects to surpass last holiday season’s sales, but doesn’t foresee foot traffic improving.
When it comes to what customers are buying, Moeller says the communities where its stores are located are conservative. They gravitate toward classic pieces, especially watches and diamonds.
A few colored stone pieces have also found buyers recently.
Inventory availability has been an issue, he notes, particularly in the watch department.
“I was on fire as far as June, July, August, September.”
— Jeffery Broestl, Broestl & Wallis Fine Jewelers
In Lakewood, Ohio, Jeffery Broestl of Broestl & Wallis Fine Jewelers had a “very good” Small Business Saturday while Black Friday traffic was moderate.
“I was on fire as far as June, July, August, September,” says Broestl, noting a slowdown starting around October.
Broestl is looking toward the holiday season with optimism, but says he wouldn’t be surprised if sales are flat compared with last year.
He stocked up on colored stones for the holiday season, particularly sapphires, rubies and emeralds.
It may be the only way to compete with online sellers, says Broestl, so he’s trying to make that the store’s niche.
“You have to see color [in person],” he says.
South Central: Strong All Around ... "
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