2 major jewelry brands close hundreds of stores in key market
When I was a little girl, I loved opening up my mother’s jewelry box to admire and play with those precious rings, necklaces, and bracelets. For me, it was a magical box, hiding beautiful and meticulously designed pieces of jewelry. At the time, I didn’t care if those rings were adorned with ...
Overview
When I was a little girl, I loved opening up my mother’s jewelry box to admire and play with those precious rings, necklaces, and bracelets. For me, it was a magical box, hiding beautiful and meticulously designed pieces of jewelry.
At the time, I didn’t care if those rings were adorned with precious diamonds or just simple stones; the actual value didn’t matter to me. They were the most valued items in our house.
As it happens when we get older, our perception of value completely changes. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry explains in TheLittle Prince, to show adults a beautiful home, you must state its cost.
Recent data by Grand View Research reveals that when Americans buy jewelry they aren’t looking for cheap plating, they are heavily investing in diamonds and precious materials.
“The diamond jewelry segment dominated the U.S. jewelry market, accounting for approximately 63.32% of total revenue in 2025, driven by strong consumer demand for premium, high-value jewelry products,” reads the report.
A similar shift toward premium and high-value offerings is happening across Asia as well, forcing major jewelry companies such as Swarovski and Pandora to close many of their stores in one of the biggest consumer markets in the world: China.
Pandora, Swarovski closing stores in China
World-renowned jewelry brands Pandora and Swarovski are losing their popularity and shrinking their presence in China.
The Danish company known for its customizable charm bracelets, Pandora, saw its peak in China in 2019, when it ran 240 stores, boasting revenue of 1.97 billion Danish kroner (US$300 million), writes The South China Morning Post.
However, over the years, things have changed, and Pandora’s China sales made up only 1% of its global revenue in 2025, down from 9% in 2019, according to data from Tiger Brokers.
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In August 2025, Pandora confirmed that it plans to double store closures in China from 50 to 100 stores, implementing large-scale layoffs in this market.
At the same time, Austrian brand Swarovski, which became globally popular for its precision-cut, high-quality crystal glass crafted to look and refract light like diamonds, has also been downsizing.
The 131-year-old accessible luxury jewelry brand operated around 400 stores in China in 2019, marking it its largest market at the time, according to data from Daxue Consulting.
However, according to a report by Jeweller Magazine, the brand had around 220 stores in this Asian market in 2024. The data suggests that over the course of 4-5 years, Swarovski has closed around 180 stores in China.
Why are Pandora, Swarovski closing stores in China?
Both Pandora and Swarovski are feeling squeezed as consumers in China change their shopping habits, favoring high-value jewelry over more affordable options, while at the same time increasingly buying gold as an investment.
“We have observed a divergent trend in Chinese consumer preferences towards high-end luxury with strong heritage or value-preserving products like gold,” said Maggie Xie, associate director at S&P Global Ratings, according to South China Morning Post.
Details
“Core materials used by Pandora and Swarovski – silver and crystal glass respectively – are increasingly perceived by Chinese consumers as lacking long-term value and being prone to tarnishing,” Xie said.
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The report noted that Chinese consumers are shifting their spending toward buying real gold and lab-grown diamonds.
In fact, China’s gold consumption recently reached 303.3 metric tons in the first quarter, making a 4.4% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the China Gold Association, as reported by IndexBox.
However, the data also revealed a major twist: Shoppers aren't buying gold to wear it; they are buying it to save it.
While sales for wearable gold jewelry dropped by 37.1%, the demand for pure gold bars and coins jumped by a massive 46.4%, reports EnglishNews.CN.
How are brands trying to win over consumers?
Swarovski has firmly embraced factory-grown diamonds under its Swarovski Created Diamonds category (featuring collections like Galaxy, Eternity, and Octagon) since 2018.
“Cut for brilliance, the stones featured in the Eternity, Galaxy, and Octagon Collections are identical to their mined counterparts in every way but origin,” reads the description on the Swarovski website.
According to Brilliant Earth, lab diamonds are real diamonds, chemically, physically and optically identical to natural diamonds. At the same time, they are much cheaper than natural diamonds, and appeal to consumers looking to spend less or wanting to avoid traditional mining.
“In mainland Chinese stores, a 1-carat lab-grown diamond reportedly sells for around 3,500 yuan (US$518), less than one-tenth the price of a comparable natural stone,” according to The Next Web.
Pandora, on the other hand, made a huge transition in 2024, when it started making its jewelry with 100% recycled silver and gold to minimize its environmental footprint. Earlier this year, it made yet another significant announcement confirming it will start introducing platinum-plated jewelry across select product lines.
The news came amid sharp silver price increases over the past year, writes TheStreet’s Fernanda Tronco.
While both brands are working hard to reinvent themselves with lab-grown stones and premium metals, the retail landscape remains hostile, with consumers prioritizing gold bars and coins over gold necklaces and rings.
It remains to be seen how long this survival strategy will last, how many storefronts it will ultimately cost them, and whether these changes will begin to affect the brands’ operations in the United States and other global markets.
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Originally published at www.thestreet.com.