Get it While the Getting is Good

It’s only mid-October as I write this column and I have noticed as you walk into more than a few retail outlets it’s more than just beginning to look like Christmas. Huh? A couple of Augusts ago I was searching all over Walmart for pool supplies, they had been moved to the middle of nowhere to the garden section to make room for the intensive supply of Christmas decorations that took its place inside.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m like any other retailer and the holiday gift giving season is a very crucial part of my business. I used to get perturbed when I saw competitors having so-called Christmas sales that begin the first day of November and last until Christmas Eve. The so-called sale was just a scam to get folks in their shops before they got the inkling to actually shop around.

One jewelry store (now long gone) advertised 70% off everything that included diamonds and gold jewelry for two straight months before Christmas (70% off diamonds…really?? I’ve been in the diamond business for over fifty years; I have never had any diamond wholesaler give me even a 20% savings!)

For the first year, most naive folks fell for the scam and then the ones with the doubting half of their brain finally functioning realized the normal stock prices were not “reduced” as advertised but in fact tripled - then you could take 70% off. One of my customers tried to explain to her friend who insisted on going there to shop that she was not saving 70%! An item priced $3,300during “The Sale” would cost you $990.00. Only that same item the summer before without a sale price had a tag for $995.00.

I’m no Rhodes Scholar, but I know a five-buck savings off regular priced merchandise sure as heck isn’t a 70% off sale!

The store worked a couple years of “sales” before frenzied folks finally realized there was no big savings. That store withered and died.

Now back to reality…there is no way on earth that platinum, gold or any nice diamond jewelry is going to have deep discounts unless it was stolen or “fell off a truck”! Fine jewelry is valuable and will not ever sell below manufacturing cost especially when gold is around $1,800 for just an ounce of the shiny stuff, fine diamonds and precious gems have only increased in price these past years.

And yes, just like you that can’t find your favorite product at the supermarket right now, I’m facing similar shortages in the jewelry biz, from tools, display stands to boxes and to make matters worse some large jewelry manufacturers are down to skeleton shifts; many functioning companies are telling me to place special orders now if I want them by late December and for the coming season.

Just like clockwork, before the holiday season the media is predicting doom and gloom for the upcoming months. I refuse to listen to it, and I’m still stocking up regardless of what the future brings. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

My advice if you are in the market for gifting fine jewelry to family members or your hunnybunny, get it now or in late November while the getting is good. I do see the possibility of supply issues affecting us the next few months. So, if you see something and you like it - get it. That item may not be there at a later date.

Shop wise, don’t fall prey to sales scams that will be prevalent in the coming months, just ask them “70 % off what??”

Richard Alan is a designer /goldsmith and owner of The Harbor Goldsmith of Marco Island and celebrating 25 years of excellence serving the Island, Naples proper and the world.

He welcomes your questions about All That Glitters! www.harborgoldsmith.com.