Close to 280 American jewelry businesses closed down operations in the third quarter, a huge 29 percent increase from the same quarter in 2014, according to the Jewelers Board of Trade (JCT).
If the total includes companies which were sold, merged or announced bankruptcy, the figure jumps to 318, which the JBT said was a 20-percent rise on the third quarter of last year .
Meanwhile, the number of retail jewelers or repairers that closed down soared 43 percent to 237, while eight manufacturers and 31 wholesalers also shut up shop, according to the JBT.
On the plus side, however, there was a 25-percent jump in the number of new jewelry businesses, with 74 such operations commencing operations in the United States .
Looking at the first nine months of this year, 727 jewelry-related businesses shuttered their operations. That was a 28-percent rise on the January-September period of last year.
This included 599 retail jewelers or repairers, which was 32 percent more than in the same period of last year.
When taking into account sales, mergers and bankruptcies, a 15-percent increase was recorded to 844. On the bright side, newly opened operations increased by 4 percent to 224.
