Headlines

New Report Expects U.S. Demand for Jewelry to Grow Despite Uncertainty Elsewhere

Published

7 years ago

April 28, 2016

INSTORE Staff

Improved job market credited for last year’s increase in sales.

U.S. jewelry demand increased last year on the strength of sustained economic recovery and an improved job market, according to a new report from De Beers that’s cited by Rapaport. The article says that total U.S. jewelry sales jumped by 5 percent to $39 billion, though that wasn’t enough “to lift the global industry which contracted 2 percent because of sluggishness in emerging-market economies and the strength of the U.S. dollar.” De Beers expects U.S. demand to continue growing in 2016 amid an uncertain global economy.

It Was Time to Make a Decision. It Was Time to Call Wilkerson.

Except for a few years when he worked as an accountant, Jim Schwartz has always been a jeweler. He grew up in the business and after “counting beans” for a few years, he and his wife, Robin, opened Robin James Jewelers in Cincinnati, Ohio. “We were coming to a stage in our life where we knew we have to make a decision,” says Jim Schwartz. He and Robin wanted to do it right, so they called Wilkerson. The best surprise (besides surpassing sales goals)? “The workers and associations really care about helping us move out own inventory out of the store first. It was very important to us.”