Retail Jeweller (Magazine)

Retail Jeweller is a monthly trade publication, digital news website and associated events covering the UK and Irish jewellery and watch industry.

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

Starting life in 1925 as a monthly bulletin published on behalf of Birmingham Jewellers & Silversmiths’ Association, the magazine was eventually formalised as the Birmingham Jeweller in August 1933. Circulation was around 8,000 copies per month and the cost of producing the first 48-page issue, including printing, posting, envelopes and paying for contributing articles, was around £205. In December 1933, its title was changed to the British Jeweller in order to appeal to a wider range of advertisers. The British Jeweller continued to be the official magazine of the British Jewellers’ Association right up until the late-1990s, undergoing several different incarnations, changing its name to British Jeweller and Watchbuyer in 1970, and back again to British Jeweller in 1983.

Emap[edit]

By the 1980s, the magazine was no longer being published by the BJA. Instead, its publication was overseen by Thomson, later Emap Business Communications^[1], the business-to-business (B2B) division of publishing group Emap. At that time, Emap also published the official journal of the National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG), entitled Retail Jeweller, a publication that was started by Eric Bruton in the early 1970s. While British Jeweller was a monthly magazine, Retail Jeweller, in the early days, was published fortnightly in a broadsheet format. Emap continued to produce both publications up until 1997 when the decision was taken to merge the two titles into one monthly publication, initially called Retail Jeweller & British Jeweller. This name only lasted for a very short period of time before the British Jeweller part was dropped and the magazine henceforth became known as Retail Jeweller. Retail Jeweller was now being produced independently of both the BJA and NAG – the two trade bodies responsible for its creation.

Today[edit]

Today, Retail Jeweller, which has been edited by Ruth Faulkner since 2014^[2], has a circulation of 2,000 paid subscribers (according to the ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) with a pass-on rate of three, meaning that an estimated 6,000 people working in the jewellery and watch trade see it every month.

Change of owner[edit]

In January 2017, Emap’s then-owner Ascential^[3] announced its intention to sell 13 titles including Retail Jeweller. The 13 "heritage titles" were to be "hived off into a separate business while buyers are sought." The brands were purchased by Metropolis International Ltd (owner of the Property Week title since 2013) in a £23.5m cash deal^[4], announced on 1 June 2017.

The UK jewellery awards and events[edit]

Retail Jeweller is responsible for the annual UK Jewellery Awards, which celebrated its 25th year in 2017^[5], and is the only dedicated awards ceremony for the industry, judged by the industry. The awards, held in July each year, attracts around 700 industry guests. In 2014, Retail Jeweller also launched the now annual Inspiring Independents^[6] event, a dedicated awards ceremony and conference aimed at the independent jewellery retail market.

References[edit]

This article "Retail Jeweller (Magazine)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.