Pearl retail market in USA today

Josh:
Yeah, I read part of this blog with Dave over the phone and at first he was puzzled. "Barb, is there some point to this?" But then when we finished it and he understood where it was all going he was quiet, thoughtful. This morning he said, "When you get back to that blog, tell Josh I feel better".

Wendy:
I love living in a state with four seasons: except for the part about being cold and wet part of the time. But you know what? I lived in Thailand for a year and in South Korea 6 months. I spent 9 months scuba diving off ancient Chinese junks in the Gulf of Siam. I've been to a number of different colleges and lived in lots of different parts of the U.S. I could have just stayed in Los Angeles like my sister and brother and never gone anywhere else except for vacations. I'll take the snow, the rain, the sleet, the sun of summer.
Ain't it great to really live your life?

I was in Cambodia the day the Khmer Rhouge took over and left precipituously. Took forever to get my passport back. Gave new meaning to the concept of being an illegal alien. It was poor planning on my 19 year old part of course, but the U.S. consulate assisted me in getting home. Made for an interesting chapter in my diary.

Our country has lots of problems but I'm not ready to give up on it yet. I've had a good life here, and there. Injustices do happen. Every day. How could they not? We are people and not perfect. There are some things that are not acceptable. But they happen anyway. So the goal is to keep moving forward and create the best system we can by constant involvement.
What was that phrase about "Eternal Vigilance"?
barbie
 
Thank you Barbie for brightening my day again. Wild story about being in Cambodia too. Poor planning on the part of a 19 year old surely, but you probably didn't run into that many others that age traveling. Brave? Uh, yeah.
 
Thanks Josh:
Funny thing is the time I spent scuba diving there was with a team of Navy Seals. Technically they were on R& R but for a year? And some of the group would dissappear from time to time then quietly drift back in on our weekend tours to the nearest good diving. Me tinks de were going a little farther north for some specious purpose not to be discussed here. Or anywhere else.
I don't usually tell either story for fear of being thought of as a ZE.
barbie
Ask me again in a year and I can give the same details without checking my references. Promise.
 
I stopped reading the news about stocks and mutual funds etc a few weeks ago. I also stay away from the "crime" section.
 
Yeah, yeah! That's the ticket! Diving with Navy Seals, taught 'em everything they know, uh huh.
Naw, I believe that one but it does remind me of this French legionary that used to work on a farm near Kamoka who had this long, elaborate story of being part of the French secret service and being THE diver who placed the bomb on the hull of the Rainbow Warrior which was sunk in New Zealand. A book will be written some day about the collection of characters that end up, flee to, and hide in those remote atolls.
 
Honestly, I think that it's just too soon to know what the fallout will be. The Wall Street sheep are still bleating pathetically and stampeding from one side of the field to the other everytime a Pekinese barks or a mouse squeaks.:eek: One thing that will help is that, in spite of the volatility that it adds to the economy, we are not hampered by the gold standard. In the Great Depression this necessitated keeping the money supply, which was largely tied up in the hands of a small number of extremely wealthy people (Sound familiar?) and thus not circulating through the economy, too low because of the risk that it would cause a run on the treasury (Fort Knox). The current bail-out(s) are a result of printing money that doesn't represent new wealth to get the money supply (read credit markets) going again. I won't go into the ramifications of this now.:cool: There is also that sector deemed the "real economy" that operates somewhat independently of the "investor and corporate economy" that often seems to keep things going even when the investments are in the dumps. It's being affected by the credit freeze up but that may not last too long. . . :confused:

;)My opinions are this:

1. It's too soon to pass judgement on the effects of this economic mess to any great degree yet, but I'd be rather cautious with my purchases.

2. Although I'm not sure how this translates to the jewelry business as a whole, the area of it that I have been in for over 35 years has been unusually, even amazingly perhaps, stable through all the ups and downs of our economy. (I'm in fine, custom jewelry design and crafting and have always worked for independant jewelers.) Through the double digit inflation of the late '70's - early '80's, the recession in the early 90's, the technology stocks crash and the first part of the sub-prime housing crisis, it has stayed remarkably steady.:D I have an hypothesis that when the economy gets tough, then the more well-to-do folks will put off buying that big sailboat and will console themselves with one or two thousand in jewelry purchases. In other words, our customer base may move up and down with the economy. Perhaps. . . . :rolleyes:
 
Is it a sign of anything that I purchased 4 gallons of gas for 10 U.S. dollars this week for the first time in years? Or is it just a fluctuation in the market?
Last year when it went up to $5.00 a gallon and then back down to $4.00 right away, I figured we were being primed for $5.00 a gallon and the drop back to $4.00 was just a cookie, to get us past the bitter taste. Now I don't know what to think. Won't surprise me at all if it goes right back up.

barbie
 
I just had a meeting with a guy from Tahiti that I have known for some time. He has run a pretty successful wholesale business dealing in matched strands for quite a few years.

He called me on Friday and asked to set up an appointment for this morning. It was a bit strange because we do not buy finished strands except for the occasional baroque lot, but he really wanted the meeting anyway.

Today he tells me that he is quitting - giving up. He brought his entire inventory with him and told me he wanted to liquidate it as close to or even under cost for cash. In the end I took about half of it - he had come to me first because I'd be able to pay cash.

I felt sad for him but his spirits seem good. He was able to relieve himself of a lot of inventory today and is now hoping to start up a restaurant. It was the best deal I had ever gotten on Tahitian strands, but he was happy. He promised to invite the office to dinner at his new restaurant if it works out.

I think the economy is having a real toll on a lot of dealers. I am hearing from people in Japan and China - domestic and international wholesale orders are down. Retailers are simply not stocking big for the holiday.
 
Interesting news, Jeremy. Thanks for your look into the industry. It's getting odd in the building and construction world as well. There will definitely be tangible/visible changes in US towns and cities in the next few years as everyone works to readjust.
 
It will be an interesting show in Tucson, I expect. Have you heard of many dealers dropping out of the show?
 
It will be an interesting show in Tucson, I expect. Have you heard of many dealers dropping out of the show?

I don't have an ear to the ground in that sector of the industry. But I imagine the international dealers will come to Tucson in full force. They have no choice. Most don't decrease their presence in a poor economy, they increase it. At least (from my perspective) that is the proper way of dealing with an economic downturn and the way we personally deal with it.
 
That's good news. I had hoped that your guy from Tahiti was the exception. Will he be serving oysters in his restaurant???
 
They have no choice. Most don't decrease their presence in a poor economy

As Donald Trump has always said - when sales are low is the time to kick in extra money on marketing, that is when you need it the most!

I after tonight and we have the new Prez. squared away we should see some more stability. People will start looking at the stock market again and start looking for those deals. Which do you prefer, paying full price or getting something on sale ;)
 
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I've noticed that people have been a little more reticent about spending on higher end jewelry at the moment...we'll just wait and see what happens...we have to be more creative I guess! lol
 
FYI--

For the last 24 hours QVC shopping channel had a Honora Pearls "Today's Special Value. It was a set of 7 pairs, 7mm fw button stud earrings, each a different color, in sterling silver. The set sold for just under $30 (no shipping cost). They sold about 300,000 sets!

Showed the most keishi pearls I have ever seen them offer, mostly dyed colors.

New colors offered were greens--pistachio, kiwi, still lots of browns, too, champagne, mocha to chocolate.
 
Just another brief update--on 12-11, QVC shopping channel had a Honora pearls "Today Special Value." It was, according to Honora Pres Joel Schechter, oval AA pearls, 6-7mm, necklace dyed pearls in 3 lengths and 3 multi color choices--for $29. Nearly 100,000 were sold. Much ado about color treated pearls, in chocolate and brown tones, but also teal, and greens as mentioned before.
 
Is QVC shopping channel the same as Home Shopping Network on cable? We don't subscribe to cable. So please excuse the ignorance.
 
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