Jewelers See Positive Signs as Business Restarts

(diamonds.net) - Times are hard for luxury in general, and jewelry in particular. In a recent survey by McKinsey & Company, jewelry was one of the luxury products consumers were most willing to forgo post-Covid-19, considering the financial crisis the virus has left in its wake. The question is, how does discretionary spending fit into the “new normal,” and what does the future hold for the average independent jeweler? Local community jewelers have been hard hit by the pandemic, which essentially cut off their primary source of income for more than two months. As US businesses grappled with mass closures, furloughs and government aid, they worried not only for their own livelihoods, but for those of all the employees who relied on them. Most of all, they struggled with the uncertainty of day-to-day life: With 50 different states issuing different rules for how business could or couldn’t operate, they had to figure out how to keep customers and workers safe while also reigniting consumer sentiment for a product deemed nonessential.