New JewelPoint Event Aims to Connect Traders

RAPAPORT... A new industry networking event, JewelPoint, is set tolaunch later this year, connecting private-label manufacturers with US buyers. JewelPoint will help bring together buyers and suppliers ofhard-to-source gold, loose gemstones, unbranded finished-gemstone jewelry andestate jewelry. The event is intended to complement regular trade shows ratherthan replace them. The first edition will take place from October 9 to 11 inSan Diego. It follows the success of GoldPoint, an earlier event its foundersorganized for the gold trade, according to the company. Nancy Robey, a strategic adviser on fine jewelry (pictured, left), and HollyGranofsky, a jewelry executive and former president of the New York JewelersGroup (right), created the concept after conducting research into traders' needs, theysaid. They launched GoldPoint in 2017, and will hold the next edition of thatevent in February 2019. "Many traditional and regional chain stores simply don't have the time or resources necessary to travel overseas to attend trade showsor meet with manufacturers and suppliers, and even if they are able to carveout the time, they face another obstacle in knowing how to work with thesemarkets and who they can trust," Robey and Granofsky said recently.