As Pandemic Wanes, a New Hot Commodity

As pushback on the pandemic continues and more businesses reopen, one industry is seeing a noticeable boom. CNN Business reports that, as people start to resume some sense of normalcy, getting hitched has once more become a priority—meaning jewelry for the special occasion is now in high demand. "We've seen a resurgence in both engagement ring and wedding band sales," an executive for the Shane Co. private jeweler tells the outlet. CNN notes that, after people started getting the COVID vaccine earlier this year, sales of these luxury items spiked in April and May. For instance, the COO of the Clear Cut, an engagement ring company based in New York, says it saw its sales jump four times in May compared with May 2020.

Even though many people were out of work during the pandemic, CNN notes that others kept their jobs or otherwise fared OK and were even able to squirrel away some cash. The owner of a Massachusetts jeweler tells the Reminder that consumers may also have some extra dough on hand thanks to recent stimulus checks, leaving disposable funds that they've chosen to throw toward their just-announced or postponed weddings. Forbes notes that some companies have even overhauled the way they sell wedding jewelry, leaning more toward rings made out of recycled materials and lab-grown diamonds to appeal to the environmentally conscious. (More engagement ring stories.)