Jewelry Stores are Struggling

Food. Clothing. Gold earrings. A roof over your head. Diamond necklaces. Can you guess which of these doesn't fit?

Gold earrings and diamond necklaces are luxury items. Luxuries that, in the current economy, most people are choosing to do without.

Nationwide, luxury item stores are struggling to stay afloat in the recession. In Millburn, where the downtown shopping district features several fine jewelry retailers, the recession is taking its toll.

In the 43 years that he has run Daren Michaels Fine Jewelry on Millburn Avenue, Bernie Zucker said it has never been this bad. Many of his neighboring store-owners agree.

"Luxury business is affected pretty dramatically because it's not a priority for many people," said Rudolph Shtainhorn, co-owner of Jhanna Fine Jewelry. He stressed that everyone is cutting back, not just those who have lost their jobs.

"Even the people who aren't affected fall into the overall mood, and luxury goods are the first to be affected," he said. "If anyone tells you differently, they're lying."

But in Millburn, the fine jewelry store-owners say that the economy is not the only factor.

“Forget what’s going on with the economy,” Carol Lipper, of Designer Jewelry Outlet, said. “For the last five or six years we’ve watched a solid decline in foot traffic.”

Lipper is closing her store with plans to relocate elsewhere in the area after 13 years on Millburn Avenue. “It has to do with rents,” she said. “Our landlords aren’t budging.”

“There are no anchor stores here, no Gap or big stores to draw people in. Short Hills Mall takes a lot of business away,” Zucker said.

Shtainhorn and his wife Jhanna say the problem is that town residents don’t show enough support for local merchants. “We’ve been here 24 years,” he said. “But still, we have people coming in and asking, ‘Are you new? Did you just open?’”

The two said it would help if residents came to them for everyday needs or services. "It doesn't have to be to buy a $1,000 piece," Jhanna said. "We have other items, we do repairs."

Lipper says the town needs to do more to help raise foot traffic. “The management does nothing to help retail. They put in this awful parking system. They hold a meeting every now and then to appease us. They listen, but nothing is ever done.”

One jewelry store-owner is more optimistic. Guy Netef opened Netef Gallery on Main Street about a year ago, and said that “business is okay, not great but okay. It will get better.”