Yesterday, a watch dealer in Massachusetts with several stores who was in deep financial distress opted to quickly leave the country with his family back to his native India. The family name is Handa and the jewelry chain is Alpha Omega a well known jewelry store chain. Some of the brands he carried Omega, Zenith, Rolex VC, D&S, Tag, until this spring Breitling, Concord, Ebel, Longiners and more.
It was a great place to visit and picked up my D&S from them a couple years back. Quite a few customers currently sucking wind thanks to this Santa Claus. Tonights news even showed the receipt of one unlucky person who recently plunked down 3K on a 9K watch. I have a family member in the jewelry/watch business and was told last year about their problems and to steer clear but I never really thought it would happen after my positive experience with them.
Amazing to hear about Alpha Omega. I often went into their store in the Prudential Centre for a browse when I visited Boston. Very upmarket and AD for lots of top-end brands, not the sort of place you would think was struggling. Hope those affected will get something back.
Michael.
We were in one of their shops about 3 months ago. There was no indication that anything was amiss financially. The staff were all extremely helpful and friendly, and seemed to know their stuff. The stock was stunning.
We feel sad for the staff, and for those who may have left deposits for goods they may never receive.
I read the same story in the Boston Globe. Have stopped in and browsed the Prudential store a number of times (but never bought anything). They did have a nice selection of brands.
I must confess that, after feeling bad for the owner and even worse for those customers that had put downpayment on a watch or left a valuable watch to be repaired, my next thought was whether some of their inventory might be sold off/auctioned at a deep discount to satisfy their creditors.
One of the sales guys once boasted to me they sold 40 Rolex day-dates a month!
They seemed to be flying high but its afew years since i've been there.
My daughter works at the Burlington Mall and I asked her to check the stores out for me when I heard it on the news here. Both the jewelry store and the watch store had clean shelves in the display cases and nothing in the windows.Originally Posted by pippin
I read the same story in the Boston Globe. Have stopped in and browsed the Prudential store a number of times (but never bought anything). They did have a nice selection of brands.
I must confess that, after feeling bad for the owner and even worse for those customers that had put downpayment on a watch or left a valuable watch to be repaired, my next thought was whether some of their inventory might be sold off/auctioned at a deep discount to satisfy their creditors.
Perhaps a few large packages via FedEx to India?
No need. From today's Boston Herald :
from http://www.bostonherald.com/business/ge ... id=1062135Boston magazine first reported Wednesday that Handa, of Lexington, fled the country with his entire family and 17 suitcases with no plans to return.
When I used to live in Boston I used to frequently browse their watch collections. They always had nice stuff and the staff were much more knowledgeable than the usual watch store staff.
Wow, he's been pictured in watch magazines and I think even standing next to former US President Clinton. Hasn't Clinton purchased Panerais in that store?
Actually it looks as if the bank is reopening the store without the Handa's.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/ge ... id=1062135
Man, what a mess.
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