Hong Kong-based retailer Chow Sang Sang has opened its first physical location featuring synthetic diamonds after the venture operated online for two years.
The company’s synthetics brand, called The Future Rocks, launched a pop-up store in Hong Kong in the first half of the year, the jeweler said last week. The company has also expanded its collection, offering a new line of synthetic diamond and sapphire jewelry, it noted.
Meanwhile, sales for the six months that ended June 30 slipped 13% year on year to HKD 11.31 billion ($1.45 billion). Retail sales slipped 13% to HKD 11.05 billion ($1.42 billion), while other revenue, mainly from property investments, dropped 20% to HKD 263.7 million ($33.8 million). Profit slumped 37% to HKD 519.8 million ($66.7 million).
During the first quarter, same-store sales — at branches open for at least 12 month — were solid in Hong Kong and Macau, rising 4% year on year, Chow Sang Sang said. However, in China, same-store revenue fell 9% during the same period due to an unfavorable comparison with the same time the previous year when the border between Hong Kong and the mainland reopened, encouraging consumers to purchase luxury goods. Same-store sales faltered in the second quarter amid the rising price of gold, with revenue in both China and Hong Kong and Macau sliding 24%.
Over the first half, same-store sales of gold jewelry slid 12% in China, while those of diamond jewelry declined 42%. In Hong Kong and Macau, same-store revenue from gold was down 8%, and diamond-set jewelry fell 21%, the company added.
Image: A Chow Sang Sang store in Hong Kong. (Shutterstock)
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