Shopping For Jewellery In-Store Traditionally, if you wanted to buy a piece of jewellery your only option would be to visit a high-street jewellery retailer. But following the introduction of the internet at the end of the 20th century, this all changed. In fact, throughout 2018 more than 29 million people bought jewellery online per day. However, shopping for jewellery in-store is still just as popular as it was 25 years ago, and for a good reason! You can try on your favourite styles in-person, see how the diamonds sparkle in the light and experiment with different sizes to ensure the perfect fitting, all whilst having a jewellery expert on-hand to answer any questions that you may have. There really is nothing quite like it. In this blog post, we share five tips and tricks to keep in mind when shopping for jewellery in-store.  

Try It On First

One of the best things about shopping for jewellery in-store is that you have the ability to try on different pieces, unlike with online shopping. In fact, for many people this is the main reason why they prefer to shop in-store. Having the option to try on jewellery can be really useful if you want to get a better idea of how a specific piece will fit, but even more so if you’re unsure of the general sizes of different types of jewellery. For example, solid gold chains tend to have a wide variety of different lengths and widths to choose from and it’s often hard to tell the exact fitting based solely off pictures; even more so if the person modelling the jewellery has a different physique to you.  

Don’t Be Scared To Walk Away

When shopping for jewellery in-store, it’s all too easy to fall in to the trap of buying something without thinking it through properly. This is even more likely to happen if you have a salesperson at your ear encouraging you to make the purchase. If this happens, don’t be scared to walk away and take some time by yourself to consider your options. There’s nothing worse than being rushed into buying something, particularly with such a high-value item.   

Avoid The Shopping Centres

We always recommend to avoid buying from big-name jewellery brands, particularly brands with stores that are located in high-rent shopping centres. Most people are unaware that many high-street jewellers have mark-ups in excess of 300%. This means that an item that costs you £2,000 was purchased by the jeweller for a mere £500. Buying second hand jewellery helps to safeguard you against these harsh mark-ups, especially if you choose to shop with an independent jewellery retailer such as Hatton Jewellers.   

Ask Questions

The biggest mistake that you can make when shopping in-store is forgetting to ask any questions. After all, you have a jewellery expert right at your fingertips, so why not make the most of them? In addition, if you don’t ask the jeweller any questions, it’s easy for them to get the impression that you don’t know what questions to ask. Of course, if you don’t have a great deal of jewellery knowledge this leaves you prone to being taken advantage of – something that happens all too often in the jewellery industry. Unsure if that “VVS” diamond are really as high-quality as the jeweller claims? Why not ask about the diamond’s grading in each of the other three C’s?  

Don’t Forget To Look Online

One of the main restrictions of shopping for jewellery in-store is the limited selection of jewellery available. When it comes to buying jewellery online you often have access to tens of thousands of different items, if not more. However, it would be impossible to fit anywhere near this number of items in a jewellery store.  With this in mind, many people choose to visit a jewellery retailer in-person to try on various different styles and ask any questions they may have, before jumping on a laptop and searching for the best price online. Of course, even if you choose to buy your jewellery online there are still several tricks that can help to ensure you do everything by the book.   So there you have it, our top tips for buying jewellery in-store. Do you feel like shopping for jewellery in-store is the perfect option for you? Why not visit our jewellery store in Hatton Garden? Do you have any other tips for buying jewellery in-store? Why not let us know on Facebook or Instagram?