Jewelry, Watch, Precious Stones & Metals Wholesalers NAICS 423940

May 19, 2025 - Jewelry Industry Closures Rise

• Fewer jewelry businesses were operating in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) reported in Rapaport. The total number of companies active in the US in the first quarter was 22,330, which is nearly 3.4% fewer than the same quarter in the previous year. Jewelry manufacturers accounted for 2,119 of the industry, a decline of 4.6%. Jewelry retailers accounted for 16,959 of the industry, a decline of 3.5% year over year, and wholesalers fell 2.5% to 3,252. During Q1 2025, 212 businesses exited the sector, a nearly 20% increase from the same quarter a year ago. Of the businesses that exited the sector, three went bankrupt, 34 closed due to mergers or takeovers, and 175 closed for other reasons. The number of new businesses during the quarter fell to 90, compared to 94 a year earlier.
• De Beers announced in May 2025 that it planned to close its lab-grown diamond brand Lightbox, according to Rapaport. CEO Al Cook said the move reflects the company’s commitment to natural diamonds. The company had launched the Lightbox brand in 2018. However, lab-grown prices in the jewelry industry have dropped 90% at wholesale since the brand launched, per De Beers. Noted Cook, “Overall, we expect both the cost and price of lab-grown diamonds to fall further in the jewelry sector.” The company plans to continue its synthetic-diamond production unit, Element Six, focused on industrial and technology solutions. Jewelry wholesalers must monitor a changing diamond market landscape.

• The jewelry industry is anticipating a range of impacts from recent Trump administration tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada, including the resourcing of factories, disruption of diamond flow, retaliatory tariffs, and price increases, according to JCK Online. For example, Richline CEO and President Dave Meleski said that his company is resourcing its products from its factory in China to countries unaffected by the trade war. He noted tariff volatility may negatively impact the metals market and expressed concern that an escalation in gold prices could dampen consumer sales. The trade wars may affect the flow of diamonds from Canada, which exported some $88 million to the US in 2023. Retaliatory tariffs will also affect the industry. Canada and the EU are prepared to impose a range of tariffs on US gemstones, diamonds, and precious metals in retaliation for new US steel and aluminum tariffs.
• Consumer confidence levels fell in April 2025 month over month, dropping by 7.9 points, according to the Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board. Consumer confidence levels have fallen for five consecutive months, reaching levels not seen since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, according to The Conference Board, which publishes the monthly index. In addition, the final index of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan dropped 8% in April 2025 from the previous month, according to CFO Dive. An index measuring consumers’ expectations for the future fell nearly a third since January, the steepest three-month percentage decline since the 1990 recession. According to survey director Joanne Hsu, “Consumers perceived risks to multiple aspects of the economy, in large part due to ongoing uncertainty around trade policy and the potential for a resurgence of inflation looming ahead.”