Month: June 2016

Retail footfall edges up in May

Retail footfall edged up 0.3% in May compared with the same month last year, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard. The latest Footfall and Vacancies Monitor found the increase in retail footfall was up on the 2.4% decline seen in April and significantly above the…

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Watches of Switzerland set to open new Knightsbridge store

Watches of Switzerland is set to complete what it calls a ‘golden triangle’ of London stores with the opening of its new Knightsbridge store later this month. The three-storey showroom will open on Brompton Road on 27 June and will feature the UK’s largest Patek Philippe in-store boutique, a rolex…

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EU knows?

By the time next time I write my letter for this column, the British public will have made the biggest decision they are likely to make for several generations. The referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union has dominated the news both at home and internationally, with hysterical doomsday…

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Blue diamond sells for record-breaking £17.5m

The Cullinan Dream has sold at auction for $25.3m (£17.5m), making it the most expensive fancy intense blue diamond to have ever gone under the hammer. The 24.18-carat diamond – sold at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels & The Cullinan Dream auction in New York on Thursday 9 June – is named…

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NAJ appoints new chairman and vice-chairman

The National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) has announced the appointment of a new chairman and vice-chairman. Simon Johnson, owner of Marmalade Fine Jewellery, was confirmed as the NAJ’s chairman at the organisation’s annual general meeting yesterday evening (Wednesday, 8 June) while Harriet Kelsall, of eponymous jewellery brand Harriet Kelsall Bespoke…

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Royal Mint to sell gold bars into pensions for first time

The Royal Mint, which supplies all of the UK’s coinage, is to offer investors the chance to own gold bars within their pensions for the first time. The plans will see the Royal Mint offer private individuals and pension scheme providers access to buy and manage gold held within their…

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Jewellery and watch sales grow in May

Jewellery and watch sales grew in May in a month that brought ‘better news’ for UK retailers, according to new research. The latest Retail Sales Monitor from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG found jewellery and watches to be third best performing sector, out of 12, in terms of…

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Polished diamond prices dip in May

The price of polished diamonds declined slightly in May as buyers waited for the JCK Las Vegas show, which took place between 3 to 6 June. Despite this, the Rapaport Group’s RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI) said trading at the show was “relatively weak” with slower traffic than in previous years.…

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Jeremy France Jewellers named Winchester’s ‘Independent Business of the year’

Jeremy France Jewellers has scooped the award for the ‘Independent Business of the Year’ at the Winchester Business Excellence Awards 2016. The event at Guildhall on Friday, 3 June, was attended by the city’s finest independent businesses, with rally driving champion Penny Mallory kicking off proceedings and the Mayor of…

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Retail crime cost UK retailers over £2.34bn in 2015

Crime cost UK retailers more than £2.34bn last year, according to the recent UK Retail Fraud Survey 2016 published by Retail Knowledge. Launched at the Retail Risk conference and sponsored by WIS International, the survey found that employee theft was identified as the single biggest cause, with 68% of retailers…

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