By Joe Lovinger

The pandemic rattled New York’s diamond mecca, and in the process opened the long-stagnant district to radical change.

Nothing arouses a jewelry salesman quite like the sight of naked fingers. To walk down West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, the Diamond District, is to be constantly flagged down and cajoled by such salespeople. All it takes is one slip-up — spending a few too many seconds looking at a ring in a window, walking at too uncertain a pace, glancing down at an unadorned wrist or digit — and a roving salesperson appears. Some of them work just for one store, while others are independent. …