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The number of active US jewelry companies continued to shrink in the third quarter, but at a slower pace than a year ago, according to the latest data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).
A total of 126 businesses closed during the three months that ended September 30, versus 158 in the same period a year earlier, the JBT said last week. Overall, there were 22,152 companies active in the US industry by the quarter’s end, a drop of 3.1% year on year.
Of the businesses that discontinued operations, only one went bankrupt; 30 shut due to mergers or takeovers, and 95 closed for other reasons. Meanwhile, the number of new firms shrank to 89 from the 112 that opened the year before.
Retailers still constituted the bulk of the sector at 16,822, 3% fewer than last year. Wholesale businesses slipped 2.9% to 3,234, while manufacturers contracted 4.2% to 2,096 companies.
The JBT, which provides credit information for the trade, downgraded the credit rating of 620 companies across the US and Canada during the period, compared to 809 a year earlier. It also raised the scores of 551 businesses, versus 623 in 2024’s third quarter.
Image: A jewelry-store display. (Shutterstock)
