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But things get interesting when you start to ask about what’s really selling well in individual stores. There are a surprising number of designers and brands that individual stores do incredibly well with that aren’t as well known.

Prominent designers like Roberto Coin, Stephen Webster, Gurhan, Marco Bicego, and Penny Preville have quite a following. So do brands like Gregg Ruth and Mikimoto. But some stores say their best selling collections are Irene Neuwirth, Mizuki, or Yossi Harari.

“I think the price pressure and the Internet availability has caused us to rethink our process of what brands to carry,” a retailer says. “So, consequently, we are looking for smaller brands and making more of our things in-house.”

What does it take to turn a brand that isn’t known nationally into a local star? Suitable demographics and aesthetics, no doubt. But the success of these collections in specific stores is in large part due to the efforts of a retailer who is passionate about the collection and presents it well.

“We have brought in new designers and relatively unknown brands and helped to educate our customers to who they are and their design aesthetic and philosophy and this has worked out quite well,” a retailer explains. “Our customer expects new designers from us and I think it’s important for other retailers out there not to let things get too stale, and to understand that we all have our bread and butter lines but to also give newer or lesser known companies the chance to sell and to help them along if we believe in them.”