What Are Your Expectations for the Holidays?

OWNER
NEWTON’S JEWELERS
FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS

“Based on the
past six months, our expectations are pretty high. Right now, what we’ve been
selling is Rolex, Forevermark Diamonds, and bridal and fashion jewelry,
including a lot of Roberto Coin. So that’s what we’ve stocked for the holidays.
In terms of Forevermark, we’ve been selling mostly rounds, although recently,
we’ve sold some fancies for engagement rings — mostly cushions, some pears and
ovals — which is a little different. We’re being very optimistic and expecting
to go over what we
did in 2016.”

OWNER
ADDESSI JEWELERS
RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT

“I think people
are more confident and feeling better. Looking at the
numbers, I’ve had a very
good year, good foot traffic through August, so I’m
anticipating a good season,
outside of anything dramatic that might happen making the
news. I’m pretty
optimistic.
   “Diamonds with colored stones
are doing very well; color has been a big part of our focus
over the past two
to five years. What has really picked up for us is estate
jewelry. We just sold
a 1920s Art Deco diamond bracelet for about $40,000, and we
had three customers
looking at it.
   “One way we set ourselves
apart as an independent is the relationships we constantly
try to build with
our customers. We’ve been connected to the digital world for
a long time and
using social media. Facebook is a huge driver of foot traffic
for us. This
year, we’re building a new website so we can digitally
connect with customers
who might have moved away…. There are also higher-end items
that can be put
into a wish list that sends me an email. I can then phone
customers to discuss
the pieces. It’s another way to reach our clients.”

OWNER
GARY J. LONG JEWELERS 
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA 

I think this
holiday season is going to be very similar to last year, which was fair — not
great, but not negative. This has been an average year on the whole so far.
With Christmas being on Monday, I’m expecting the Thursday, Friday and Saturday
before Christmas to be the peak of the season. The one big worry, being in the
upper Midwest, is that we might get a snow event. A medium-size snow event will
keep the local shoppers staying local. But with a huge snow event, people will
not go out.
   “For the holidays, we’ve
created some special pieces with large colored stones — really nice Ethiopian
opals, opal doublets, some larger pieces in blue zircon, morganite, aquamarine.
And then, I believe, there will be a resurgence in fancy-shaped diamonds —
cushion, oval, pear-shaped — and colored diamonds. We’ve been having people
talk about them, and we’re well set in terms of inventory. We’re also getting
requests for old European and old mine-cut stones, which is kind of unusual,
but maybe it’s a kind of nostalgia. Along with that, we’re seeing a lot of
repairs of family pieces. In the next week and a half, we’re kicking off a
three-week push on heirloom repair to get items ready for Christmas, including
replacing or upgrading stones.”

OWNER
E.L. MENK JEWELERS
BRAINERD, MINNESOTA

I think this
holiday season is going to be very similar to last year, which was fair — not
great, but not negative. This has been an average year on the whole so far.
With Christmas being on Monday, I’m expecting the Thursday, Friday and Saturday
before Christmas to be the peak of the season. The one big worry, being in the
upper Midwest, is that we might get a snow event. A medium-size snow event will
keep the local shoppers staying local. But with a huge snow event, people will
not go out.
   “For the holidays, we’ve
created some special pieces with large colored stones — really nice Ethiopian
opals, opal doublets, some larger pieces in blue zircon, morganite, aquamarine.
And then, I believe, there will be a resurgence in fancy-shaped diamonds —
cushion, oval, pear-shaped — and colored diamonds. We’ve been having people
talk about them, and we’re well set in terms of inventory. We’re also getting
requests for old European and old mine-cut stones, which is kind of unusual,
but maybe it’s a kind of nostalgia. Along with that, we’re seeing a lot of
repairs of family pieces. In the next week and a half, we’re kicking off a
three-week push on heirloom repair to get items ready for Christmas, including
replacing or upgrading stones.”