Whitehall Jewelers Expands Operations. Purchases 78 Friedman’s Stores.

Chicago based Whitehall Jewelers Inc. has announced that they will be purchasing the 78 Friedman’s and Crescent Jewelry stores that are not going out of business. In January of 2008, Friedman’s filed for Chapter 11 banrkruptcy protection.

Currently, 377 Friedman’s are conducting “going-out-of-business” sales as part of the Chapter 11 filing and involuntary Chapter 7 case that was brought against them. Expectations are for these sales to conclude in 10-12 weeks.

It should not come as any surprise that Whitehall Jewelers is making this purchase. Having already pared back their operations to 297 stores, this purchase affords them the opportunity to begin regrowing their business. Reportedly, the purchase price amounts to 63% of the cost value of the inventory so as they say, “the price is right”.

Look for Whitehall to continue operating these store under The Whitehall and Lundstrom’s Jewelers names. 

Following a disappointing holiday season Zale Corp. has announced that over the next 90 days they will be closing 60 Zales, Gordon’s and Piercing Pagoda stores. The stores to be closed will be their unprofitable locations.

Zale corp. has yet to announce the details of the closings, but more locations are likely to close later this year.

I apologize for the down time this evening. We decided to move away from the voting process front end to promote new news items. Of the readers polled the vast majority didn’t want to take the time to register to vote, and I don’t really blame them, it was another cool tech idea that really didn’t need to be implemented here.

We reverted to more of a blog style method of posting news to the website. This gives you the Tip of the Day (mostly) feed and now the Jewelry News feed that you can subscribe to if you prefer to read the latest in news and tips in an RSS reader.

There are still a few minor adjustments to be made, and I need import the news from the old format, but we are back up and operational. Thank you for your patience.

Steve -

Have you ever asked yourself why it is some people like to wear religious jewelry? Many believe that it nothing more than a display of their religious beliefs. Could it be more than that? Here’s a few things to think about…

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