The North American jewelry industry logged 555 business discontinuances in 2021, according to the annual statistics compiled by the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT)—an 11% drop from the 627 discontinuances the group recorded in 2020.
The 2021 discontinuances include 435 retailers, 60 wholesalers, and 60 manufacturers.
JBT’s definition of discontinuance includes businesses that ceased operation (437 companies fell into this category), filed for bankruptcy (4), or merged or acquired (114).
All but 19 of the discontinuances were in the United States; the rest were in Canada.
Last year, JBT recorded 394 new jewelry businesses in North America—a stunning 151% increase over the prior year. That number breaks down to 327 retailers, 39 wholesalers, and 28 manufacturers.
Overall, JBT listed 25,301 North American jewelry businesses in its database at the end of 2020 (23,979 in the United States; 1,322 in Canada), a 1.5% drop from the prior year’s number of 25,767. That breaks down to 19,176 retailers (U.S. number: 18,201), 3,662 wholesalers (U.S. number: 3,442), and 2,463 manufacturers (U.S. number: 2,336).
(Photo: Getty Images)
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