El Paso’s jewelry counters are feeling the heat. With record high gold and whiplash level silver prices, local shoppers are quietly ditching heavy 18 karat pieces for leaner 10k and 14k versions, eyeing mixed metals or silver, or hauling in old gold to trade toward something new. Small, family-run shops are stuck in a painful math problem: raise prices and risk losing customers, or keep prices lower and watch profit margins get squeezed.
As reported by KFOX, CBC Fine Jewelers marketing director Eunice Cardenas said gold has jumped from roughly $2,600 an ounce at the start of 2025 to more than $5,000 now, calling the climb “unprecedented.” UTEP economics professor Tom Fullerton told the station that businesses are basically stuck choosing between passing those costs straight to customers or eating part of the increase to keep sales moving.
Why metals are pricier
The crunch is not just a Sun City story. Gold hit a record $5,589.38 per ounce on January 28, then backed off a bit while still hovering far above what buyers had gotten used to in recent years, according to CBS News. Analysts have been pointing to a familiar trio of culprits: aggressive central bank buying, simmering geopolitical risk, and a softer dollar that makes hard assets more attractive.
Silver’s wild ride
Silver has not exactly been the calm alternative. It spiked to roughly $121.64 per ounce in late January before sliding back into the $70 to $80 range by mid May, magnifying the headache for jewelers who rely on both metals, according to market data from Trading Economics. Because silver carries hefty industrial demand and has relatively limited above-ground stock, traders say its price swings can feel especially brutal for smaller retailers that do not have deep hedging programs.
How local shops are coping
On the ground, El Paso retailers are improvising. CBC and other local shops are pushing trade in and redesign services, inviting customers to turn old or broken pieces into fresh designs, and shifting more showcases toward lower karat or mixed metal jewelry so price tags stay within reach, the KFOX report shows. CBC Fine Jewelers also highlights its North Mesa shop and long family history on its website at CBC Fine Jewelers, a reminder that many of the businesses grappling with these costs are multigenerational operations, not corporate chains.
What it means for buyers
Nationally, the jewelry industry is reaching for its usual playbook. Designers are trimming gold content, leaning harder on silver and colored gemstones, and in some cases using forward contracts or customer deposits to hedge material costs, according to reporting in Vogue. Here at home, UTEP economist Tom Fullerton, who studies the regional economy, says those kinds of shifts are standard whenever shoppers pull back, and businesses face tighter margins. Fullerton has shared that perspective with local business audiences in his role at UTEP…