Just how many retail jewelers are there in the U.S.? IDEX Online Research regularly receives that question. Based on data available at the end of 2008, our official answer to the question is this:

 

• There were about 22,600 jewelry businesses operating about 26,700 stores at the end of 2008.

Census Methodology – Three Sources

There are three reliable sources for jewelry industry census numbers: the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT), the Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau. We like to have at least three sources for our data so we can cross-check to be sure that the information we publish is reliable.

 

The problem with a census of the jewelry industry is that all three sources count jewelers slightly differently. The good news is that all of the numbers are in a fairly tight range, after making adjustments for the different counting methodologies and definitions.

 

There is one other challenge: the government numbers run up to two years behind. For example, the latest numbers from the Census Bureau – which has the most complete census of jewelry doors – are from 2006. Census numbers for 2007 should be available soon, and 2008 won’t be available until 2010.

 

Here is an explanation of the U.S. jewelry industry census statistics shown on the table below:

 

• Jewelers Board of Trade – The JBT tallies jewelry retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers on a monthly basis. The JBT census counts a multi-store chain as one in its census, regardless of the number of stores which it operates. Thus, JBT numbers represent the number of jewelry businesses in the U.S. Further, the JBT numbers miss a few of the smaller businesses; those missed by its census are inconsequential in the industry, in our opinion. We believe that the JBT census is the most reliable and up-to-date.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics – The BLS census tallies those jewelers, by individual store, who are large enough to report quarterly employment statistics. Each store in a chain is counted in the BLS census. The BLS census does not count very small jewelry businesses, and those missed by its census are inconsequential to the industry.

• Census Bureau – The Census Bureau claims that it tallies the total number of individual jewelry doors in the U.S. As a result, its census numbers are the largest. However, the Census Bureau numbers run up to two years behind other sources.  

Source:  JBT, BLS, DofC

 

While the Census Bureau numbers are delayed about two years, IDEX Online Research maintains an informal list of major store closings. It is possible to generate a reasonable estimate of jewelry doors open at the end of 2008, based on the magnitude of the Whitehall and Friedman’s closings, along with data on other closings. We believe that there were no more than 26,700 jewelry doors open at the end of 2008.

 

Unreliable Census Numbers

In the past, we’ve had people try to use other sources for census data in the jewelry industry. For example, several mailing list companies claim that they have a list of every jewelry store in the U.S., and their lists have as many as 40,000 names.

 

Unfortunately, those lists don’t provide a census of jewelers. For example, IDEX Online Research is on most of those lists under multiple names (we seed those lists to obtain jewelry information) and multiple addresses. We are aware that there are multiple mailings to personnel in corporate headquarters locations. While those mailing lists may, in fact, reach every jewelry store in America, they also reach many who are not in stores. Thus, they are not a reliable source for jewelry census numbers.