SPRINGFIELD– Block Jewelers, a loved ones company that started off in the Delaware Valley almost a century back will forever close its doors by the new yr. The longtime, reliable Delaware County retailer, that opened at 149 Baltimore Pike in 1966, is selling its deeply discounted inventory down to the bare walls.
Currently owned by Gary Block and his wife Leslie, Block Jewelers in Springfield is a third-technology jeweler that grew from a store named Block Marble, begun by Gary’s paternal grandfather, Harry Block, in 1929 at 13th and Walnut Sts. in Philadelphia. Harry’s sons Alfred and Byron sooner or later took more than the retail store, renaming it “Block Distributors” as its stock became much more various. The keep at some point advanced into a catalog showroom in 1955.
Catalog showrooms had been a new, stylish way to store in the 1960s-1970s, with Block Distributors, Most effective Items, Basco, and Company Goods serving buyers all through the tri-condition space. At a single time, Block Distributors experienced 4 outlets in the Delaware Valley providing jewellery, luggage, appliances, electronics, and housewares. In addition to the recent area on Baltimore Pike that was constructed in 1966, and the shop at 13th and Market streets., in Philadelphia, the Block relatives experienced shops on Cheltenham Avenue in Cheltenham and at Cottman Avenue and Massive Street in Northeast Philadelphia. They also owned a Block Distributors at 7th and MacArthur streets in Allentown.
Gary Block remembers his to start with occupation at the retailer was aiding place the catalogue with each other each individual summer months. In its heyday, Block Distributors experienced a 300-webpage catalogue. At the store’s peak, 50 percent of a million catalogues were distributed to customers.
“Customers generally reminisce with me and explain to me how they’d circle the goods they preferred for Christmas or a special occasion,” Block stated a short while ago. “Now, we have a 12-web page flyer and individuals will normally go to our web-site to view our jewelry, but back again then, our catalogue would be the key function. They’d generally stay all over people’s households to look at 12 months-spherical. A single client lately told me that she stored it on her coffee desk. We are the longest, constantly opened jewellery…
