“What are your best-selling diamond engagement ring and remount styles, brands, and price points?”
LEO ANGLO
Vincent Jewelers, St. Louis
Our store is not about brands, but in terms of styles, our most popular semi-mount is the micropavé halo. The selling price generally starts around $1,000 for mountings, though it used to be $2,200. In diamonds, we are still selling 0.75 cts. t.w. to 1.50 cts. t.w. This year was weird, too, because we sold more emerald, marquise, pear, oval, and radiant cuts as opposed to rounds and princesses. We’ve even sold a couple of hearts and other odd shapes.
WAYNE A. ADDESSI
Addessi Jewelers, Inc., Ridgefield, Conn.
There is no common thread for me in bridal because 90 percent of my business is anniversary. I don’t sell brands because I am the brand, though I do carry Gemveto, Lazare Diamond, Hasenfeld-Stein, and I do promote Rolex. My price points for diamonds are $20,000 and up, and the styles are pretty classic—a yellow center with half moons or trapezoids on the sides, or a three-stone ring but not all rounds. Micropavé is more popular for us, and yellow fancy colored diamonds are the most important part of our business. In fact, I just sold a 62.00 cts. t.w. fancy yellow bracelet for a half million dollars; the nice part about that is that I have it [in stock].
MARK GARCIA
Garcia & Co. Jewelers, Farmington, N.M.
Bridal jewelry is my best seller, but we are not a brand store. I cherry pick a lot of different types of styles from different designers. We do well with classic styles, large total weights and semi-mounts that retail for under $2,500, interlocking wedding sets with a carat total weight in the center, and we use Prisma Express for remounts. Our classic solitaire is a cathedral mounting in palladium that is 4 mm wide; it’s big, beautiful, and heavy and allows you to stack any band you want with it. Our styles have much more emphasis on the diamond center. Our sales of micropavé are almost gone—we hardly sell any of it anymore.
DEB McSHANE
Wimmer’s Diamonds, Fargo, N.D.
Hearts On Fire is definitely the brand to which everyone aspires. We have many fans also of the Simon G. collection. The vintage/pavé styles in white gold are still the most-asked-for product. Our average price points would be in the $4,000–$7,000 range.
CHIP STONE
Stonecraft Jewelers, Elko, Nev.
Our main sales occur in the $1,499–$2,499 range. We sell Simon Golub & Sons and Allison-Kaufman Co., and Camelot’s micropavé princess cuts are the big thing now. White gold is still huge, and for brides over 40, yellow gold is still popular.