Diamonds: A Girl's Best Friend Again
Diamond sales are expected to rise for the holidays despite the recession.
Nov. 30, 2009 — -- Diamond sales are regaining some of their glitter this holiday season, after a recessionary slump that pummeled demand and led miners to cut production.
"Christmas last year was so dismal almost anything would be better," says Stephen Silver, owner of the upscale S.H. Silver Fine Jewelry in Menlo Park, Calif.
Retailers are predicting sales to increase by as much as 10 percent from last year, with larger diamonds sold to wealthy clients leading the uptick.
"Last December I was hardly selling any 2-carat diamonds, but today I'm getting demand for 2, 3 or 4 carat diamonds on a daily basis," says Stuart Samuels, president of Premier Gem, a New York wholesaler.
Americans spend about $30 billion each year on diamonds, and about $60 billion on jewelry overall, according to Idex Online, an industry site. Demand for diamonds plunged in the aftermath of the stock market collapse last year, and some experts worried that humbler tastes might make it tough for diamonds to recover. Plus, with an increased focus on environmental sustainability and fair mining practices, a growing number of young shoppers have been turning to diamond alternatives, ranging from synthetically produced diamonds to other gemstones such as sapphires.
But retailers say this fear hasn't materialized, arguing that women still prefer to see the sparkle of a diamond on their engagement ring.
Greg Stocker, a radio producer from Philadelphia who recently bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend of seven years, says he never considered anything but a diamond.
"The diamond ring is what women like," says Stocker. "My fiance is not superficial and would have been happy with something out of a Pez dispenser, but I wanted to give her the best of what I could."
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