Jeweller - December 2020

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY | Chains through the decade
2020
STORE COUNT
Top 5
Largest Fine
Jewellery
Chains
Capital, Colette Hayman launched a new
fashion jewellery and accessories store,
eponymously named Colette Accessories.
The first Colette Accessories store opened
in Sydney’s CBD and, at the time, Hayman
boasted that they would have 120 stores
within three years. By 2014, the store count
had reached 102 across Australia, with a
further 18 overseas.
In contrast, of the seven fashion
jewellery chains listed in the State
of the Industry Report (SOIR) 10
years ago, only one remains – six
closed their physical stores...
The ‘downfall’ of the six fashion
jewellery chains means that of the
378 stores that were operating in
2010, 343 no longer exist.
However in February, the company – which
had been renamed Colette By Colette
Hayman – was placed into administration.
At the time of publication, it had emerged
from the administration process with
35 stores.
Diva and Colette are not the only large
fashion jewellery chains to have found
the going tough over the past decade.
Other closures
Butterfly Silver, a fashion jewellery business
established in 2002, operated 20 stores in
2010. It collapsed in March 2018 closing
all locations.
However, Hoskings subsequently acquired
the e-commerce business butterflysilver.
com.au.
Equip Accessories, which featured in the
2010 SOIR with 104 stores, was liquidated
in 2017. It had expanded to 110 Australian
stores, all of which were closed.
The other three fashion chains that didn’t
survive the decade with bricks and mortar
locations were Magnolia Silver, Bijoux,
and Myka.
In total, and along with Butterfly Silver,
they represented 63 store closures.
Magnolia Silver and Bijoux now operate
as online-only businesses.
On the other hand, Silvershop, which
was founded in 1999, has now expanded
to seven stores in Queensland making it
a small chain.
This collapse of 343 fashion jewellery
stores, along with Colette’s 64-store
closure as a result of administration,
leads to the question: why has the retail
landscape changed so drastically over
the past decade for the lower end of
the market?
The answer likely lies in more strenuous
competition from online incumbents
and new entrants, given that low-margin,
high-volume fashion jewellery is more
suited to internet sales than higher-value,
low-volume fine jewellery.
Further, and more importantly, the
continual increase in shopping centre
tenancy costs – particularly persquare-metre
rents – has resulted in an
unsustainable business model, especially
when ‘rent’ includes a sales percentage.
44 additional
stores since 2010
12 additional
stores since 2010
11 fewer stores
since 2010
43 fewer stores
since 2010
19 fewer stores
since 2010
TABLE 2: FINE JEWELLERY CHAINS’
STORE COUNT 2020 VS DEC 2010
Chain 2010 2020 Variance
Prouds 217 264 47
Michael Hill 144 154 10
Angus & Coote 133 120 13
Goldmark 119 74 -45
Wallace Bishop 57 38 -19
Zamels 100 33 -67
Shiels 31 40 9
Mazzucchelli's 25 28 3
Bevilles 29 24 -5
Salera’s 21 18 -3
Hoskings 17 16 -1
Gregory 16 15 -1
Graham's 7 6 -1
Regency 6 6 0
Anthonys 8 5 -3
Hardy Brothers 7 5 -2
Pascoe* 9 3 -6
Goldsmith* 9 2 -7
Dia Oro* 7 1 -6
Blue Spirit # 6 0 -6
Thomas # 9 0 -9
TOTAL 977 852 -125
On a like-for-like basis there has been 13% reduction
in store numbers the past 10 years
* No longer chain. # Stores closed
CHART 1: CHAIN DOMINANCE BETWEEN 2003 - 2020
2003
2007
2010
2020
0 250 500 750 1000 1250
38 | December 2020