Jared, Zales And Kay Jewelers Set To Close Stores Permanently

A lot of people, mostly guys mind you, just got a bit of a reprieve when it comes to (expensive) gift buying.

Kay, Jared, and Zales jewelry stores were all closed by their parent company, Signet, due to the COVID 19 pandemic and it now looks like approximately 380 of those stores will not reopen. The company was forced to put more emphasis on digital and online sales during the closures and that approach seems to be working for them.

Thus, their decision to keep some stores closed forever. If you think about it, it is cheaper to run a website and pay some postage than it is to pay rent, staff costs, utility bills, and other expenses. It's unfortunate but, particularly for this type of business, it does seem to make sense. It is, as we all know, ultimately all about the bottom dollar.

Despite that though, let's not forget that buying jewelry is a "hands-on" kind of purchase. The experience of trying things on, seeing how they look in the light, ensuring a proper fit, etc is very important and special; especially when couples are shopping together. Thus the reason some stores will reopen.

Signet has not yet announced exactly which stores will not reopen but, according to bloomberg.com, they have "reopened more than 1,100 U.S. stores over the past six weeks, with about a quarter only offering curbside pickup". Hopefully, no more stores will be shuttered forever and I hope even more that El Paso's stores and their employees are spared.