Rocksbox Opens Stores To Sell Not Rent Jewelry Under Signet's New ‘Grow Brand Love' Strategy

Forbes

16-06-2025

Close-up of bohemian woman with freckles wearing boho style silver turquoise rings and necklaces
Rocksbox just opened a fashion jewelry store in Walnut Creek, CA's Broadway Plaza outdoor mall. This marks Rocksbox's third store, following its Fillmore Street location in San Francisco and Elizabeth Street store in the Nolita neighborhood of New York City.
A handful of other Rocksbox store openings will follow this year as Rocksbox transforms from a jewelry rental subscription model to a bricks-and-clicks retail destination for fashion-forward jewelry. It will feature leading designer brands, including Kendra Scott, Kate Spade, Ana Luisa, and Lele Sadoughi, as well as Rocksbox private label and pre-owned jewelry selections.
This move is part of Signet Jewelers' new 'Grow Brand Love' growth strategy introduced by new CEO J.K. Symancyk in March. One of its aims is to continue to grow its core bridal jewelry business while expanding into 'adjacencies,' such as the much larger fashion jewelry segment. Signet figures it has a 28% share of the $10 billion addressable market in bridal jewelry compared to only a 6% share of the $50 billion fashion jewelry space.
'This is a test of what a fashion offering can mean to our business,' CFO Joan Hilson shared with me, adding that Rocksbox's move into stores is 'an exciting new format for us.'
Rocksbox was launched by entrepreneur Meaghahn Rose in 2012 as a digitally-native jewelry rental subscription service. It was acquired by Signet Jewelers in 2021 and continued to operate under the subscription rental model until the middle of last year.
It discovered the Rocksbox model was not a good fit with Signet's core businesses and brands, which include:
Finding the subscription rental model was becoming a barrier to growth, it ended the rental program, which had also been tested in Signet's Zales stores in 50 markets, and shifted to a retail sales model.
'We've increasingly seen customers interested in purchasing the jewelry outright and adding to their collection – especially styles that are pre-owned and from designers that represent their values,' Rocksbox president Allison Vigil shared with RetailDive at the time of the shift.
Now it is carrying forward Rocksbox' brand transformation into physical stores where Signet has proven itself to be a leader. It operates some 2,600 retail stores, making it the jewelry retail market leader in the U.S. It is also the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry.
As Rocksbox introduces itself to new customers as a jewelry fashion destination for self-purchase and gifting, it will serve as a proving ground for another pillar of the 'Grow Brand Love' strategy: to grow through a brand mindset. Rocksbox is just getting started honing its new image, unlike others in its portfolio which have long-standing relationship with customers and an identify built over the years.
Previously, Signet always referred to its numerous jewelry businesses, such as Kay, Zales and Jared, as banners, not brands. However, the focus on branding is more than just a change in semantics.
'We're moving to think about our brands so each can focus on what is unique to their customers,' Hilson explained. 'Each team is dedicated to fully owning and bringing their brand to life for their customer.'
The new branding initiative will focus on refining, realigning, and further differentiating each brand, and learnings from one will undoubtedly transfer to others, especially in the fashion jewelry market where it has the greatest growth potential.
Signet has started with sharpening the branding sword for its core flagship brands – Kay, Zales and Jared. For example, Kay – 'Every kiss begins with K' and its bridal and gifting core – has just appointed its first chief love officer, Teddy Swims. Jared is launching a new fashion campaign to enhance its aspirational positioning in the luxury jewelry market, and Zales has found success with its 'Own it' campaign targeting its fashion jewelry collections as a means for personal self-expression.
Signet's success depends heavily on these three flagship brands. In the latest first quarter earnings call, Symancyk explained that one point of comp group in these three brands has the same impact on Signet's overall performance as six points of growth in its remaining brands.
'Results for these three brands is already delivering a combined 4% comp sales in the first quarter, with continued trend in May,' he added.
Signet has been battling headwinds recently after revenues dropped nearly 15% from fiscal 2023 through fiscal 2025, from $7.8 billion to $6.7 billion. Yet, in the first quarter 2026, ended May 3, overall revenues were up 2% to $1.5 billion and same-store sales rose 2.5%, which Jefferies reports is the first time in 12 successive quarters that comp sales in North America inflected positive. And adjusted operating income rose from $57.8 million last year to $70.3 million this.
Average unit retail sales also got an 8% boost, partly owing to a 60% increase in lab-grown diamond sales in fashion jewelry. Fashion price points in the $200 to $500 range are particularly strong.
Jefferies analyst Randal Konik wrote in an investor note that Signet is turning the corner:
'Signet Jewelers, a leading jewelry and watch retailer in North America, is undergoing a strategic transformation under its 'Grow Brand Love' initiative," and demonstrating early signs of success, including consumer engagement outpacing peers, steadily improving web traffic growth, which just inflected positive, steadily improving comp growth across all regions which just inflected positive in NA, increased higher-margin Service sales penetration, and overall enhanced profitability.'
Another positive sign is plans to shrink mall revenue penetration to less than 30% of revenues from around 35% currently in North America and move to more productive off-mall locations and e-commerce channels. Just under 100 underperforming stores will close this year, primarily those in weaker mall locations with leases set to expire this year. Over the next three years, some 200 'high-value' stores in declining venues will be shifted.
And Symancyk reassured investors that threatened Trump tariffs aren't going to hold it back as it revised guidance upward at the lower end of its revenue range between $6.57 billion and $6.8 billion and adjusted EBITDA to between $615 million and $695 million.
'We believe that we can navigate tariffs as they stand today within our full-year guidance through a combination of vendor negotiations, value engineering of new and existing styles, as well as promotion and life cycle management,' he concluded.
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