According to data released by the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT), 240 jewellery retailers in the United States and Canada ceased operations in the third quarter of this year, up from 172 in the third quarter of 2014. Additionally, year-to-date, 612 retailers have closed their stores, a 30 per cent increase from last year.
Across the industry, business discontinuances—including manufacturers, wholesalers and jewellery retailers—have increased 15 per cent on the year.
This data reflects the continuation of last year’s industry-wide trends, including the retirement of baby boomers, being technologically behind, slow sales and shrinking margins.
The JBT report also showed that consolidations among retail jewellers, wholesalers and manufacturers have continued to decline, while the number of bankruptcies remains low. These two trends are also consistent with what was observed in the first two quarters of the year. CJ
