Jewelry did well during the holiday weekend, ranking fifth on items purchased by consumers this holiday weekend, according to a study by America’s Research Group, Charleston, S.C.

The top 10 items bought this Thanksgiving weekend were: Toys, 44.2%; perfume/cologne, 26.1%; jeans, 25.4%; video games, 24.2%; sporting goods, 21.2%; jewelry, 18.3%; linens, 14.0%; children’s clothes, 12.6%; sweaters, 10.9%; jackets/coats, 10.2%.

Normally one-third of Thanksgiving “wannabes” don’t make it to the stores, but this year only 7.9% of those who planned to shop did not make it, according to the study. More than twice the number of men shopped this Thanksgiving weekend compared to earlier years where only 20% of shoppers were male, but this weekend 42.3% of shoppers were men. In spite of limited sales help, 43% of shoppers took it in stride waiting in long lines at the checkout and were hopeless in their effort to find available store personnel. Consumers said the stores were “very crowded” at a 94.8% level while experiencing little customer service. Most consumers (72.6%) went to two to four stores this weekend while only 8.3% went to more than seven stores.

ARG is a full service consumer behavior survey research company. It was founded in 1979 by C. Britt Beemer, an authority in the field of market research.

JCK