Alter’s Gem Jewelry in Beaumont, Texas, will close after 111 years in business. The store’s going-out-of-business sale will start Nov. 20, and it will hold one last community Christmas tree lighting event on Nov. 25.
Beaumont, Texas—Alter’s Gem Jewelry in Beaumont, Texas, announced this week that it will close its doors after 111 years in business.
Brian Alter, owner of the Southeast Texas jewelry store, said he and his wife Lori are ready to move onto start the next chapter of their lives with their children and grandchildren.
The third-generation jeweler has been at the helm of the family business for 43 years, but, unlike his predecessors, he does not have the advantage of his family living nearby in Beaumont.
“We want to be more than visitors in [our children and grandchildren’s] lives. We want to participate in their lives,” Brian said.
It will be a bittersweet moment for the jeweler, but he hopes his community will hold onto the years of wonderful, shared memories.
“I don’t want this to sound like a goodbye. Goodbyes are polite and predictable, and they fade,” Brian said.
“I’d rather people remember what this place is for: the engagement ring that starts a family, the anniversary diamond that marks 50 years together, the watch passing down from a grandfather.”
He continued, “I’d rather they remember the memories we make in our parking lot every Thanksgiving Eve, with the Christmas tree lighting and the children laughing. Our doors will close, but that jewelry and those moments will be cherished for generations.”
In a letter to the industry, the jeweler thanked the many organizations that contributed to its success all these years.
“Our experiences and exposures in Jewelers of America, JAPAC, Centurion, Couture, and especially our backbone—Continental Buying Group—have been invaluable,” Brian wrote.
“Our extremely loyal and talented team, our communities, vendors, retailers, and friends make this choice very hard. But the angelic smiles of our grandchildren actually make this surprisingly easy.”
He thanked his industry colleagues and friends for their trust and for being a part of the jeweler’s story.
That story began with Brian’s grandfather, Morris Jacobs, who arrived in America as a boy and founded the family business in 1915.
“My grandfather and father taught me our business was never just about jewelry. It was about why our clients visit. It is about trust, relationships, reputation, taking care of people, and family,” Brian wrote in the letter.
After losing his dry goods store in the Great Flood of 1915, Jacobs moved to Port Arthur, Texas, and secured a loan to open a jewelry store. He expanded the business to Beaumont in 1929.
In 1920, he spotted a beautiful woman named Helen Dow at a social in Houston and told his friend he was certain he’d marry her. A year later, he did. They were married for more than 60 years.
Their daughter, Shirley, and her husband, Nelson Alter, were the second generation to run the business. They were married for more than 50 years.
Current owners Brian and Lori have been married for 43 years.
“Marriages in our family are important,” Brian said. “As our lives have grown, and our love has grown, the diamond that represents our lives together has grown.”
Brian and Lori have been through a lot together.
On December 5, 1999, a fire destroyed their headquarters store. Brian vowed to be open by noon the next day.
He set up shop in an abandoned bank building, with makeshift cases propped up on cinder blocks. It took Brian and his team 831 days to recover.
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In March 2002, Alter’s opened its current store in Beaumont, a city about 85 miles east of Houston.
Alter’s team is a loyal one, with the average tenure totaling more than 20 years and several team members working there for more than 50 years.
“I have been trying to work myself out of a job for 43 years,” Brian said. “Raise people up. Open their eyes to the world, to be all they can be. That is what I’m proudest of.”
When he’s not hard at work as a jeweler, Brian said he loves to watch Hallmark Christmas movies.
“Nearly every one of these movies features a community Christmas tree,” he said, but Beaumont didn’t have one, so he changed that.
The first year, the store welcomed about 150 people to the lighting.
Now, more than 2,000 children and adults attend the Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Carnival each Thanksgiving Eve. The event is free and run by Alter’s staff.
The tree stands 45 feet tall with 50,000 lights.
This year’s finale event, promised to be “the biggest and best yet,” will be held Nov. 25 starting at 5 p.m.
“Our tree lighting has always been free to the public. It’s one of the ways we give back to a community we love so much,” Brian said.
The store’s going-out-of-business sale will open to the public on Nov. 20.
“Time is measured in minutes, but life is measured in moments,” Brian said.
“For 111 years, whatever the moment, we have had a diamond for that. We’d be honored to help you mark a few more.”
