Reed Exhibitions cancels IJL 2020 

The organiser for International Jewellery London (IJL), Reed Exhibitions, has announced that the September event has been cancelled.   The trade show was initially scheduled to take place at Alexandra Palace, London, between 13 September and 15 September 2020, but will no longer go ahead due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.…

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BlueRock Diamonds completes $700k diamond sale

BlueRock Diamonds, a diamond producer that owns and operates the Kareevlei diamond mine in South Africa, has announced the private sale of 2,400 carats. The carats were sold at an average price of $290 (£229) per carat for a total of $700,000 (£552,000). According to the producer, the sale did…

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Say it with Diamonds sales surge amid lockdown

High-street jeweller Say it with Diamonds has reported a 267% sales uplift on engagement rings amid the nationwide lockdown. The surge in sales during March and April marked a notable difference from the amount of engagement rings sold in the same period the year prior. Over the same two-month period,…

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Sunday trading deregulation would be a ‘slap in the face’ for key workers, says Usdaw

Shopworkers union Usdaw has titled government plans for Sunday trading deregulation as a “slap in the face” for key workers and calls out the government failing to provide a “proper strategy “to help the retail industry. This move to deregulate Sunday trading hours would come across as an opportunistic use…

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Footfall begins ‘journey to recovery’ in May

Consumer footfall may have begun its “long journey to recovery” in the month of May, according to the latest figures from Springboard.  Whilst footfall dropped by 73.3% in May, this still marked a “marginal improvement” from the month prior, when footfall saw a decline of 80.1% in light of the…

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Bira welcomes business rates revaluation postponement in Wales

The British Retailers Association (Bira) has welcomed the decision by the Welsh government to delay the revaluation of business rates.  The announcement follows a similar ruling made in England on 6 May, which resulted in the government scrapping a bill to reevaluate business rates in 2021. The decision to postpone…

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Arnault son named as Tag Heuer CEO

LVMH has announced that Frederic Arnault, son of chief executive Bernard Arnault, will assume the position of CEO for Tag Heuer.  Arnault’s new role will come into effect on 1 July. He had initially joined the watch group in 2017 as its strategy and digital director. In addition, LVMH announced…

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Consumer confidence slips further amid UK lockdown

GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index has decreased by two points over the past two weeks. In the market research firm’s third Covid-19 flash report, it found that the measure for the general economic situation of the country dropped five points to -60 between 20 and 26 May. Additionally, the outlook…

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Online sales reach 10-year high

British retailers recorded a 10-year high for online sales in May while the continued lockdown measures kept high streets empty, according to new figures by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. According to BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker (HSST), total like-for-like sales, consisting of both in-store and non-store sales, declined…

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The rarest pearl of all – The Cozumel Pearl

Kokichi Mikimoto, founder of the famous Akoya Pearls, always used to say “Never give up and always keep working, and someday you will have results”. This motto is the heart and soul of Cozumel Pearl Farm in the Mexican Caribbean. Not known for pearling, the Caribbean has drawn world renowned…

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