Both closures and new openings were down.
The Jewelers Board of Trade reported that 250 U.S. jewelry retailers closed their doors in the first quarter of 2017.
That number represented a nearly 13 percent decrease from 286 closings in the first quarter of 2016.
The total included 217 retailers in the category of “ceased operations” as well as 30 “consolidations (sale/merger)” and three bankruptcies.
The total number of U.S. jewelry businesses that closed, including retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers, was 318. That was a 16 percent decrease from 380 in the first quarter of 2016.
The number of new jewelry businesses also decreased in the first quarter.
JBT reported that 37 new retailers opened their doors in the U.S., down 35 percent from 57 in the first quarter of 2016.
The total number of new jewelry businesses, including retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers, was 46. That represented a 37 percent drop from 73 new businesses in the year-ago quarter.
JBT listed a total of 19,969 jewelry retailers in the U.S. as of the first quarter of 2017, down 5.5 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
The group listed 26,493 jewelry businesses in all, including retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. That was down 6 percent from the first quarter of 2016.