Owners Of Newtown Jewelry Store Retiring; Giving Business To Employees

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — A longtime Newtown Township jewelry store is celebrating the retirement of its owners and the eventual transfer of the business to employee ownership.

Harvey and Maddy Rovinsky, the longtime owners of Bernie Robbins Jewelers, have announced their retirement and their plans to transfer ownership of its three locations in Newtown, Villanova, and Somers Point, New Jersey, to its employees sometime in the first quarter of 2024.

The transfer will take place following a retirement celebration that will position the Rovinsky’s to retire and hand the jewelry store chain over to their employees - debt-free.

“The people who have worked with us in day-to-day operations will now own it,” said Harvey. “Everything will stay the same because they know who we are. They love who we are and they love doing what they are doing. And they will continue doing it.”

Harvey said he and his wife will be arranging bank financing for their employees “so they will have a significant multi-million-dollar credit facility and a company free and clear.

“We’ve had opportunities to sell but nobody that we would sell it to will maintain the culture that my father-in-law who started the business instituted and that we have maintained through the 57 years that I have been here,” said Harvey. “And the people who take it over will continue with that philosophy and tradition.”

That simple philosophy has been to “treat everyone who walks through its doors the way we want to be treated ourselves,” said Harvey. “When you use that mentality then you’re sensitive to your client and you do the right thing for them. We run a happy business so our goal is for everyone to be happy when they walk out. And we usually achieve that.”

During the retirement event, now taking place at the store, Rovinsky said customers will be pleased with the “fabulous values” offered throughout the store and the inventory that will be available.

“If you come in you will be helping us give our company over to our employees debt-free,” said Harvey. “What’s driving what we’re doing is the orderly transition of a debt-free business to great people who will continue the tradition of my father-in-law and my mother-in-law.”

For the past 57 years, the Rovinsky’s have earned a spot in the hearts of thousands of families in the Delaware Valley working together at the helm of Bernie Robbins.

The company was founded in 1962, the year Maddy’s parents Bernie and Lorraine Rosenberg borrowed $2,500 and opened the Bernie Robbins appliance store at 12 South Mole Street in Philadelphia. They named the store after Bernie who had changed his last name to Robbins.

Maddy Rovinsky with a photograph of her parents, Bernie and Lorraine Rosenberg, founders of Bernie Robbins. (Contributed)

Bernie worked in partnership with his son-in-law, Harvey Rovinsky, who joined the company in 1966, and together they grew the business from its humble beginnings as an appliance store to become one of the leading luxury jewelers on the East Coast.

After a decade of acquiring universally celebrated designers and brands, Bernie Robbins completed the transformation from a catalog showroom to a branded luxury jeweler in 1992.

Over the years, Harvey and Maddy continued their tradition of offering elevated customer relationships and value-based leadership, growing the business into the region’s leading luxury jeweler.

The Rovinsky’s opened their first suburban location in Bucks County in 1986 branching out to Newtown Township with a store at the Village at Newtown South. In 2012, the store relocated to the newly-built Promenade at Sycamore and Jefferson Streets.

The Newtown Bernie Robbins store is located at the Promenade at Sycamore and Jefferson streets. (Photo by Jeff Werner)

The company, which eventually closed its center city store, also has stores on the Main Line in Villanova and in Somers Point, New Jersey.

“Making memories is what this experience has been for us. We have been a part of thousands of engagements, weddings, and countless family momentous occasions. It has truly been our honor and our joy to share in the happiness of so many special people," said Maddy Rovinsky, who is familiar to many at the Newtown store where she spends much of her time serving customers. “We are indebted to our loyal clients for placing their trust in us for so long."

For more information about the Bernie Robbins Retirement event, call 609-927-4848 or visit www.bernierobbins.com