The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) recorded 650 jewelry business discontinuances in 2023—a 41% increase from 2022’s total of 461.

Of the 650 discontinuances, 528 were retailers, 73 wholesalers, and 49 manufacturers. Twenty-two were in Canada, while the rest were in the United States.

JBT defines a discontinuance as a company ceasing operations, filing for bankruptcy, or merging or getting acquired.

While the group’s annual stats showed continued industry consolidation, they did include some good news: JBT recorded 416 new North American jewelry businesses in 2022—an impressive number, if down 21% from the 525 it logged in 2022. Last year’s new businesses comprised 314 retailers, 73 wholesalers, and 29 manufacturers. All but 14 of them were in the United States.

At the end of 2023, JBT’s database included 24,454 jewelry companies—23,140 in the United States; 1,314 in Canada. That breaks down to 18,527 retailers, 3,570 wholesalers, and 2,357 manufacturers. The JBT tally dropped 2.6% from the 25,118 businesses in the database at the end of  2022.

JCK paid tribute to some of the departing businesses in our annual roll call.

(Photo: Getty Images)

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