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| September/October 2006 |
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Venerable Jewelers Find New Owners Two jewelry institutions in their respective home towns — Shreve, Crump & Low of Boston and Schwarzschild Jewelers of Richmond, Virginia — have new owners following the bankruptcy of their parent company, Tyringham Holdings. Shreve, Crump & Low had faced a downward spiral in earnings ever since the death of CEO Barrie Birks in 2002. The new chief executive decided to give the Boston landmark a makeover, telling The Boston Globe that the store’s brand “had gotten very sleepy.” The store’s shift toward less expensive, trendier jewelry was accompanied by a shift to a new location, a pricey two-story structure in the Boston Common area. Neither change was met with enthusiasm by customers, who longed for the company’s traditional gurgling cod pitchers, or by sales associates, who failed to click with the new management. Sales plummeted and losses mounted. On September 6 of this year, Tyringham Holdings filed for bankruptcy, largely due to the financial strain of keeping Shreve, Crump & Low afloat. After considering multiple offers, on October 4 a U.S. bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of Shreve, Crump, & Low and Schwarzschild Jewelers to a consortium of five buyers. The sale price totaled approximately $12 million. Beginning in November, The Gordon Co. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will liquidate the jewelry inventory of both chains through in-store sales, with the state goal of getting rid of 100 percent of the current merchandise. At the start of 2007, both chains will come under the control of their new owners. Shreve, Crump & Low went to David & Co., a jeweler based in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. David & Co. was the only one of the potential buyers who had shown an interest in keeping the troubled chain open; others considered it unsalvageable. Shreve, Crump & Low has a Chestnut Hill branch which was expected to stay open, while the fate of the flagship store in downtown Boston was yet to be determined. Schwarzschild Jewelers, a three-store chain, was sold to Schiffman’s Jewelers of Greensboro, North Carolina. Representatives from Schiffman’s told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that they would return the store to a much more conservative, upscale product mix. The deal was financed by the final two members of the buyer consortium, Tiger Capital of Boston and S.B. Capital of Great Neck, New York.
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