ModernJeweler.com |

Diamonds will always have a future, thanks to canny marketing and a consuming public that thinks of them as rare. That’s why fancy colored diamonds, which are the true rarities in the hierarchy of these grand gems, will continue to enjoy a steady and enduring growth.

We spoke to several retail jewelers who are watching the colored diamond portion of their businesses blossom. They told us about the increasing sophistication of their customers, and spoke of the loose and finished goods suppliers they have come to rely on for success in this market.

PRECIOUS PARTNERSHIPS

John James, owner of Heavenly Pines Fine Jewelry in Pinehurst, North Carolina, is a jeweler who likes to educate. “I do a lot of reading on colored diamonds and try to pass along my knowledge on a weekly radio show I do on Wednesday mornings. I tell people that out of the 155 million carats of diamonds mined each year, only a few thousand are high quality color, and that colors like green or purple are extremely rare. I’ll talk about famous colored diamonds and invite listeners into the store to see what colored diamonds look like.”

“Yellow is the color we sell the most, primarily because it’s more plentiful,” James says. “I have a pendant that Abe Mor sent me yesterday on spec that has a 1.5 carat pear shaped yellow diamond at its center, surrounded by white diamonds. Three people have already expressed an interest in it. It will not be a hard sell at all. We prefer to sell natural. Once you explain the difference, customers appreciate the greater value of the natural stones. Taking the time to explain things also builds the level of trust you always hope for when customers confide in you their budgets and tastes.”

James is a fan of Abe Mor, as is Keith Hess, owner of Hess Jewelers in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. “They are a phenomenal company with regard to flexibility and their willingness to help out a jeweler,” says Hess. “For example, if a customer I sold a .5 carat stone to five years ago comes back to trade up, Abe Mor will take it back in trade. I was a rep for 10 years and have been a retailer for 13, and in too many cases my relationship with suppliers has been a one-way street. Not so with Eric and Abe. They are genuinely interested in acting as partners.”

“Another thing I like about them is their massive inventory,” says Hess. “Their catalog is never outdated. They have what they say they have. I can go to their web site with my own password and input my parameters and find the perfect stone. Finally, there is their honesty. In my experience, when a manufacturer says one carat, they really mean .94 on up to, maybe, one. If Abe Mor says one carat, it is exactly one carat, guaranteed. You don’t know how powerful a sales tool that is.”

SUPPLYING A VISION

Buffy Hukle’s clientele at The First Place in Wichita, Kansas, is very sophisticated. “Many customers buy their own diamonds,” she says. “They want color—blacks, greens, oranges, and blues that often don’t even look like diamonds. They want to be the first with unusual stones that nobody else has and are looking to stay completely away from white diamonds. Very popular and cutting edge right now are beads that run the gamut of colors, with organic slices of diamond materials set in subtle diamond bezels.”