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Amid lighter traffic, Vegas buyers walk a careful line
By Michelle Graff
LAS VEGAS - High metal prices, skyrocketing fuel costs and tightening consumer pocketbooks had jewelers who attended JCK Las Vegas watching their spending.
But they, at least, made it to the show. Though exact attendance figures were not available at press time, attendees and vendors at the show noticed that traffic was slow at what Las Vegas is normally one of the most bustling events of the year.
"It was dead," said retailer Jeff Milstein of Wyatt Austin Jewelers in Schaumburg, Ill., who has been attending JCK Las Vegas since it launched in 1992. "It was absolutely, positively dead."
Exhibitor Amy Han of Honolulu-based manufacturer and retailer Maui Divers Jewelry noticed the same.
"Traffic was really down," she said, noting Maui had booked zero appointments for the last two days of the show, which was held May 30-June 3 at the Sands Expo Center and the Venetian hotel.
According to JCK Events, the show hosted retailers from 72 countries, plus 3,100 manufacturers and suppliers, figures that were comparable to the number of exhibitors who attended in 2007. JCK Events stated that pre-registration also was comparable to 2007.
JCK Events Group Vice President Dave Bonaparte said overall, exhibitors reported "very positive results" from JCK Las Vegas 2008.
"Although retailers and exhibitors arrived at the show with low expectations due to economic conditions, we are thrilled to report that so many of our exhibitors and attendees were able to connect, do business and make this one of the most successful jewelry events of the year," he said.
Retailers walking the show in its first few days told National Jeweler they were prepared to stock up, but were doing so with an air of caution.
"I'm always open to buy product that moves," Milstein said.
He said he replenished his stock of diamond engagement rings and bought men's wedding bands and inexpensive men's stainless steel jewelry.
In total, Milatein said, he spent about 50 percent less than last year, but it wasn't because there was a surplus of inventory from the slow holiday season. The jeweler actually didn't buy heavy going into Christmas because he knew it wasn't going to be a busy season.
"We knew by November of last year that December was not going to be a banner year," he said. "We knew ... things were just not the same."
Art Caldwell at Merhnan's Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in Knoxville, Tenn., said his company was buying the same amount in Las Vegas as last year, but exercising caution. He was sticking to buying loose diamonds and bridal pieces, necessities for a store that is heavily reliant on bridal. It had taken Markman's until the JCK show in June to sell off its excess Christmas inventory, Caldwell said.
"Times are tough," he said. "We're being very, very careful."
If business was slow for some, other exhibitors bucked the trend and said they were doing blockbuster business. Stuller executives reported a record year, citing finished jewelry merchandise mix that is more fashion-forward than ever for the company.
In JCK's Italian pavilion, buyers at Rebecca, which sells jewelry made of goldplated bronze, silver, steel and hydrothermally created colored gemstones, couldn't seem to get enough of the pieces that retail for $200 to $1,800.
"We wrote up orders in one day that surpassed what we did all of last year," said Michael Pucci, director of sales and marketing for distributor Testi USA. "We're the luxury alternative for solid gold right now."
Jeff Guenther, general manager at New England's Springer's Jewelers stores, said his open-to-buy was 50 percent more than last year. He was looking to add another luxury brand to his stores, which carry Kwiat and Roberto Coin, among others.
Springer's has stores in the Maine cities of Portland and Bath, and one in Portsmouth, N.H. Although its clientele, wealthy New Englanders aged 40 to 70, are mostly shielded from the recent economic downturn, the general economic uncertainty prompted cautious buying, Guenther said.
Bowen Jewelry Co. in Lynchburg, Va., had a record day while owner Biff Bowen was strolling the JCK show. He said business is good for him this year, but he is still being conservative with his buying, mimicking consumers.
"Customers are being smart," he said. "They want value. They're not just throwing their money at you."
He said he is focusing on replenishing his stock while making "tentative notes" about new products. One new item Bowen would be willing to invest in is a line of fashion palladium jewelry.
"That's something I've got an eye out for," he said.
Palladium, at a per-ounce price ranging from $363 to $590 from Jan. 1 through mid- June, is a lower-cost alternative to white gold and platinum.
The per-ounce price of gold soared to more than $1,020 in March and, by mid-June, was at $874 an ounce, according to metal price tracker Kitco.com. Platinum peaked at almost $2,300 per ounce in March and was at $2,020 per ounce in mid-June.
Randall Janis of Heart of Gold Jewelers in Redding, Calif., calls paliadium "a great white gold substitute." He and his wife, Zan, both expressed an interest in palladium pieces, as well as micropave diamond jewelry pieces.
"It has a lot of presence to it," Zan Janis said of the tiny diamond-speckled pieces.
Another trend she noticed at JCK was organic-looking designs with a lot of open metalwork and smaller diamonds instead of a lot of "bling."
Randall Janis said the jeweler's open-to-buy is about 30 percent less than last year. His store is fairly well stocked and the owners are expecting an average year.
Randall Janis said he considers the Las Vegas show, which is a short flight from his northern California jewelry store, more of a fact-finding mission for new products and technologies. In addition to palladium and micropave, lab-grown Gemesis colored diamonds also caught his eye this year. He said he plans to buy the stones from Gemesis, which added pink to its color palette during the show.
Han, of Maui Divers, a chain of about 60 stores with locations in Hawaii, Guam and California, said the chain is buying "much less" than in previous years.
"We are really watching our spending," she said, ticking off higher metal prices and rising energy costs as factors slowing consumer spending.
"Everybody's working with tight budgets," she said.
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