Jewelry Store Hoping Recent Crowds Indicative of Future

Saturday marks the celebration of the second annual Small Business Saturday, which is designed as a way to support local businesses on what is normally one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year—but one small business is noticing the crowds began forming a week early.

“Last Saturday was unusually active, and there was no place to park in our shopping center,” said Ron Sherman, owner of on Route 202/206. “It’s remarkable that we saw it this early in the season, prior to Thanksgiving.”

Sherman said he doesn’t prepare anything special for what is considered a day to support local businesses over the big box stores, but just hopes for the crowds.

“I’m in the luxury business, so we don’t normally get that many people,” he said. “Fortunately, business has been good, and I think the economy is looking good.”

For Sherman, even Black Friday is not normally a heavy shopping day for his business, as people tend to save their jewelry purchases until closer to Christmas.

“The last two weeks before Christmas are usually the busiest, and prior to that, people look for electronics,” he said. “People camp out for the hottest toys, electronics and computer-related materials, like the hot things that everyone wants to have.”

Sherman said he considers Small Business Saturday to be just another day of the week. Market stores usually have a lot of specials, he said, but his business just acts as normal.

“Local stores are opening earlier, it seems,” he said. “But Black Friday is not as big for jewelers. People are just getting ideas before that, it’s the hard-to-get toys that generally drive the day.”

The jewelry store, Sherman said, has been open for 43 years, with another location in Flemington, and they always anticipate that Black Friday will be busier than it actually is.

Still, Sherman said, he was surprised by how busy the store was a week before Thanksgiving itself.

“We are starting off busier than I can recall from past years, hopefully there will be a demand,” he said. “I think people are hankering down and want to go back to normal, which will be a better normal.”

Sherman said he hopes the business remains busy, and believes that the economy is taking a turn for the better. Maybe, he said, people are beginning to want those luxuries once again.

“With people that are working, I think there is less fear that they will lose their jobs, whereas they may not have been confident before,” he said. “For the luxury market and others, it seems like it’s a boom for us. People still want fine jewelry or fine things.”

“This is unlike what we saw in recent years, it’s been much busier,” he added. “We are excited, and we’re very optimistic about the near and distant future.”