The Big Business Takeaway from the Pandemic? “It Was Great in Many Ways.”

IT’S COMING UP to two years since the first case of COVID-19 was identified in the U.S. After all the fear, disruption and turmoil of the pandemic, we asked jewelers what the big takeaway was for them. Their answers could be divided up between those who took away a life lesson, and those who viewed it in terms of the impact on their jewelry business. Here we summarize the answers of the 300-odd jewelers who answered this question from the 2021 Big Survey.

Life Takeaways

• “With the right help you can overcome almost anything.”
• “Don’t take anything for granted. My wife and i just got it.”
• “There is more to life than work.”
• “Fear will get you nowhere.”
• “Just move forward … It will always be OK.”
• “No one REALLY knows what’s going to happen.”
• “Life is short and unpredictable. Try to find ways to embrace the day.”
• “God bless government help.”
• “Our government has too much power.”
• “People are gullible.”

Business Takeaways

• “It was great in many ways.”
• “The travel industry kills us.”
• “We can operate with less staff, on fewer hours, with a lot less inventory.”
• “People will always want to mark a moment in time with jewelry.”
• “After being forced home for two months, I realized how much I LOVE what I am doing!”
• “Cash is king. Keep a deep reserve.”
• “The rich always have money and we have a product for rich people.”
• “That there are many more ways to conduct our business than the way we had been doing it for 76 years.”
• “Get online more and use social media more.”
• “That all the years of supporting our community and customers rewarded us with people. supporting us with continued shopping.”
• “It’s always going to be something…”

The 2021 Big Survey was carried out between August and September, attracting almost 700 anonymous responses from owners of independent jewelry stores across the United States and Canada. The full results can be found online here.