Musings from a trade show (pricing, tariffs, etc)

[DinaLRosenberg]

I'm currently sitting in the Denver Airport coming off of 5 days at the Denver Gem & Mineral Show- the 2nd largest show of it's kind in the States (likely the entire World).

I was interested to see what the market would look like this year as 99% of the vendors are from around the world and now have a host of tariff considerations to contend with.

First- traffic was slower than normal in terms of people that were shopping. I was sort of shocked as people do travel from all over the Country to attend this show. 

Second- prices were up but not as high as I thought they would be- maybe 10-15% higher year over year. 

Of course- we aren't so far into the tariffs yet and I would assume many of the wholesalers shipped their products earlier just in case.

I thought our Brazilian and Uruguayan suppliers would have higher prices- especially Brazil- but they were certainly willing to negotiate if we bought quantity (and we did).

Apparently Larimar (from DR) hasn't had any new imports into USA and the stock is picked over and low grade.

Anyway- just my observations for now

The next big show is the Tucson show end of January 2026- I will report back!

[Doran]

Interesting!  I had a vender this week just say, Hey, we are no longer shipping to the US.  Sorry!  I get it, but I'm thankful it isn't a product I use often.  

A chunk of vendors on Etsy are doing the same.  Bummed there because I like to order unique handmade stuff for gifts.  Hoping my local craft fairs make up for it this year.  

[DinaLRosenberg]

So many overseas small shops have halted shipping.

that actually may help us slightly as many people were buying crystals direct from China- and that Chinese market has been flooding the market with cheap, low quality rocks.

[CareyJo]

Very interesting that there was less than normal traffic at the show.  Wondering if they will be rethinking next year's show because of it.  I'm also wondering when it's going to hit our industry that we cannot get parts from overseas anymore or our manufacturers will have to stop making certain pieces of equipment or find different sources for components.  We don't purchase directly from anyone overseas but our distributors do through the manufacturers.