It was a rough-and-tumble year, but 2009 rolled to a pretty smooth close for the majority of retail jewelers who participated in National Jeweler’s Exclusive Year-End Sales Survey, with 53 percent reporting their holiday sales were up in November and December.

National Jeweler’s exclusive survey showed that 53 percent of jewelers saw some type of holiday sales increase over last year, and 33 percent saw double-digit increases.

Reflecting a difficult 2009, nearly 40 percent of jewelers participating in National Jeweler’s exclusive survey were up for the year, but 34 percent were down more than 10 percent.

MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse data shows that jewelry sales for brick-and-mortar stores rose 6.9 percent during the 2009 holiday season. Meanwhile, electronics sales rose 7.3 percent.

According to comScore, jewelry and watches was the top-performing online retail category in dollar sales for the 2009 holiday season, a vast improvement over steep 2008 holiday declines.

Zale Corp. experienced as less-than-merry holiday season in its stores, with same-store sales falling 12 percent over November and December. Sterling Jewelers saw same-store holiday sales increases of 7 percent.

NationalJewelerNetwork www.nationaljewelernetwork.com