By Melissa Hunter
Contributing Columnist
A trip to Boris Litwin Jewelers in Maderia is not just a shopping excursion, it is an experience. This fourth-generation, family-owned jewelry store takes pride in being knowledgeable and passionate about the industry. “One time in the shop explains it all,” owner BJ Foreman said. Foreman’s grandfather Boris learned the trade from his own father at a jeweler’s bench in his bedroom. The first retail location was opened on 6th Street in downtown Cincinnati with manufacturing happening upstairs. “My Grandpa Boris and my dad Sandy Armstrong opened up a shop, Boris Litwin Jewelers, on Garfield Place in 1972 after the Litwin company was sold,” Foreman explained. Now, it is conveniently located in the charming shopping district of Madeira.
When Foreman first started working for the business during her high school and college years, she logged merchandise, filed papers, operated the switchboard, and ran errands. According to Foreman, “From that day’s perspective, I was doing women’s work, but I was really learning the business from the inside out.” She went on to have a successful career as a journalist. She was the art critic and fashion editor at the Cincinnati Post (The Artful Shopper), and was the arts reporter at WGUC and WNKU. After her brother’s passing, however, Foreman took the helm with the encouragement and backing of her mother.
“At the time, I didn’t consider it taking over the family business,” Foreman explained. “Mom insisted that I become the president and she the vice president. She came to work almost every day thereafter.” Foreman approached her career change as a chance to reinvent the family business. “I consider jewelry tiny art that you can wear,” said Foreman. “For me, it’s all magic. A couple of years ago, I found a neon sign at a jewelry show that said, ‘This is where the magic happens,’ and honestly, it struck a note with me. If you talk to our happiest customers, they will tell you that what we have done for and with them is magic. And that when they wear pieces that we have made or sold them, their jewelry has the ability to transform their moods and just makes them happy. That’s what I’m in the game for.”
Foreman also made the decision to maintain a scaled-down and customer-based business so that she can be involved in personally. She hired people who knew what they were doing or who shared a passion and willingness to be trained. Custom work is part of their focus. “We consider ourselves a jewelry problem solver,” Foreman said. “A lot of jewelry is made by men for women to wear and isn’t always user-friendly.” With nails, clasps and closures can be hard to use, and with mobility issues that come with age, jewelry isn’t always easy to put on. Even how wedding and engagement bands fit together can present issues. Foreman and her staff take all this into consideration to offer a tailored approach to working with customers and pieces that are functional and made for life.
“Often, people much younger than myself have inherited jewelry that came down to them from grandparents or parents who I knew growing up. It’s an amazing feeling to see the pieces that my great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and brother made that I now get the chance to either update or transform into a piece they would like to have,” Foreman said. “As much as I studied and prepped to make myself a viable jeweler, something must have passed down through genetics. When someone comes in because they trust me or they like my designs, it’s an honor and a privilege.”
Working with her customers is another part of the job Foreman loves. “There is a man who comes in who always picks something I’ve sweated bullets over designing or worried over whether it will sell or sit in the display case for years. He’s not someone who has bought from us for a long time, but when he picks a piece that is special to me or one of my favorites, I feel a connection with him. That is so rewarding! The day it stops becoming fun is the day I will stop doing this.”
For Boris Litwin’s Assistant Manager, Andy, the magic of working for Litwin’s is the stories that people tell when they come in for an appraisal or to have a piece redesigned. “The stories we hear!” Foreman provided the following example: “There was a woman who came in with a box full of jewelry that had been in a safe since the 1930s. She knew nothing about the jewelry and was trying to determine whether it was costume or fine jewelry. After appraising them, I asked her if she came from royalty, because they were like the crown jewels, and she replied, ‘Yes!’”
Family continues to be part of Litwin’s staff. According to Foreman, “Litwin cousins have and still do help out in the shop. My cousin Lauren Kushner is a steady ender on some days of the week! My granddaughter Annie Laursen handles some of the graphics and the internet part of the business as well. Lauren is the 5th generation and Annie is the 6th generation of Litwins.”
At Litwin, it’s common for there to be multi-generations of employees. “Emily McOsker is the second generation working with us. Her mom Liz worked downtown in the shop many years ago, and now Emily holds down the Saturday position,” Foreman said. “Although there are two ‘i’s’ in Litwin, working here is a team effort. It’s just more fun that way, and part of the magic is the teamwork in our shop.”