B&E: A Shining Southampton Success Story

At 8 years old, Marc Altman was already working in his parent's Philadelphia
jewelry store quickly learning how to repair jewelry.

“It was the real deal," he said.  "I was actually working with gold.”

At 16, he said, he became the youngest person in the country to be
factory trained to repair Seiko quartz watches.

“They used me [in their advertising] as a prodigy,” he said. “The average
watchmaker in my class was 70 years old. I was a kid.”

Today Altman, 45, and his sister, Shari Altman, own on Street Road in Upper Southampton – a business Marc says
has no peer in the area.

“Other jewelers don't do what we do,” he said. “We manufacture,
assemble or directly import high-end jewelry.”

Altman, who holds a graduate degree in gemology, said it's generally a
good idea for customers to not just look at jewelry cases but also at
a jeweler's walls.

“There are usually no diplomas on the walls,” he said. “Spending two
hours online to learn how to fix a watch doesn't mean anything.”

Altman adds that there is another important component to his showroom that
customers don't see -- a sound-proofed second floor.

“We make the molds to create the jewelry. We do finishing of the gold
platinum. We do plating of metals; diamond and gemstone settings. We
have computerized engraving machines,” he said. “We have a whole shop
of different people upstairs.”

In all, Altman and his sister employ a dozen employees.

B&E, he says, is nothing like the chain stores. A big reason, he says, is that most retail stores don't own what they sell.

“The chain stores are expensive and the quality isn't there,” he said. “They borrow it from their vendors and pay more for the product and
pass that cost along to the consumer.”

B&E began in 1969 on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia. The letters stand
for Brenda and Eileen, Marc's mother and aunt, the latter of whom was
involved in the business only a short while. A few years later, B&E
moved to Castor Avenue in the city. The Street Road facility opened in
2004.

“We were looking to expand the business and needed larger
manufacturing space and a larger showroom," he said. "We couldn't find
anything in northeast Philly so we decided to build from the ground
up.”

So, the siblings had a gas station torn down and opened their 4,000
square foot facility at 1029 Street Road.

Altman lives in Upper Southampton, so the store's location is great in
terms of proximity to his home. But that's not why it was sited in the
township.

“We went to Upper Southampton for location, proximity, (population)
density and visibility,” he said, “It's near our old client base as
well as a large population center. There's nothing by chance that we
have this location.”

That old client base, he says, has indeed followed him from the Great Northeast. And, he adds, the down-turned economy hasn't hurt business.

“Strangely enough in a recession we do well because people look for
value,” he said. “Since the chains don't own their own products, when
gold went up (in price), their vendors repriced. I didn't raise my
prices.”

One more advantage, he said, is that B&E provides every service you
can imagine – including engraving and cleaning, even if the product
wasn't bought at his store.

“That's a big thing in the industry. Repairs are out the window. Now
they tell you to buy something new,” he said.   According to Altman, there's one more factor that keeps B&E in the black.   "People are still getting engaged,” he pointed out.