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›L O C A T I O N , L O C A T I O N An estimated 22 million train commuters from the nearby South Station pass by Long’s store in downtown Boston each year. S P E E D F R E A K For the business district’s no-time-to-shop shoppers, Long’s offers fast gift delivery, beautifully wrapped, of course.

CAPTIONS1 Passersby inBoston’s busy financialdistrict.

2 A chandelier offersa touch of elegance.

3 Judd Rottenberg inone of the store’s pri-vate showing rooms.

4 Display boxes back-lit with colored lightsare a staff favorite.

5 The store’s mainjewelry counter.

6 The view as cus-tomers enter Long’s.

7 The high-definitionplasma displays oftenfeature financial news.

8One of the store’sdramatic displays.

9 An interior shot.

Judd, Craig and BobRottenberg.

MORE DETAILSA R C H I T E C T U R E / D E S I G N F I R M : Robert J. Taczala andRyan Martin of Brand + Allen ArchitectsT O T A L S T O R E A R E A : 5,500 sq ftN U M B E R O F E M P L O Y E E S ( F E A T U R E D S T O R E ) : 102 0 0 5 R E V E N U E S ( I N F E A T U R E D S T O R E ) : N/AL A N D C O S T : N/AB U I L D I N G C O S T : N/A I N T E R I O R B U I L D - O U T C O S T : N/AD E S I G N / A R C H I T E C T U R A L F I R M S C O S T : N/AC U R R E N T E S T I M A T E D P R O P E R T Y V A L U E : N/A

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LONG’S JEWELERS

A D D R E S S : 100 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110

O W N E R S : Bob Rottenberg (CEO), Craig Rottenberg(President), and Judd Rottenberg (Principal)

P H O N E : (617) 426-8500

U R L : www.longsjewelers.com

Y E A R F O U N D E D : 1878

O P E N E D F E A T U R E D L O C A T I O N : 2004

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CELEBRITY ACTION

CookingClass

Long’s is no strangerto celebrity events.Tennis great JohnMcEnroe showed upat the store last year toadd some star powerto a charity eventaimed at supporting alocal sports group.More memorable,though, was anappearance by localchef Michael Schlow,who staged a booksigning and cookingdemonstration at thestore, says Long’s pres-ident CraigRottenberg. Schlow’srestaurant Radius —“the place to dine inBoston” says

Rottenberg — islocated next

to Long’s

Summer Street store.So Rottenberg bookedthe chef for a lunchevent and Schlow tooka few hours to signcookbooks and showoff his cooking skills.“The name of the cook-book is It’s About Time,so we tied a watchtheme to the event,”Rottenberg says.“Whoever purchased aTAG Heuer watch inthe first part of Junegot a free, autographedcookbook from ChefSchlow. The interestingthing about the eventwas that the cooktopwe rented broke downin the middle of hisdemonstration. ChefSchlow was makingfennel-encrusted tunaand somehow managedto pull it off even with abroken stove, whichwas pretty amazing.”

THE VOW

Date WithDestiny

For more than a centu-ry, Long’s had been afixture on the retaillandscape of down-town Boston. But asBoston’s urban popula-tion migrated to thesuburbs, and big con-struction projectsbegan shaking up thecentral part of the city,Long’s managementdecided to close the

began looking for otherlocations. “The day wewere going to sign thelease on another loca-tion, someone we knowtold us that the 100Summer Street locationwas available,” Craigsays. “We jumped on it.It’s fate that wesecured that location.”

TRUE TALE

TummyTickler

Long’s is a traditionalstore, but part of itscool appeal is how itcaters to today’syounger more “special-ized” jewelry cus-tomers. One such cus-tomer was a man whowanted a custom-madebelly piercing item forhis wife. “We wereespecially proud of thiscustom job because thisgentleman had been to

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1 LONG’S HAS SIX STORES. IS THE BOSTON STOREYOUR FAVORITE? Picking a favorite store is like

picking a favorite child. For me, and many people in thisorganization, the Boston store which won this award is a veryspecial place as it truly is fate and fortuitous timing that brought us back downtown.

2 HOW DOES LONG’S APPEAL TO ITS HIGH-POWERED FINANCIAL-DISTRICTCLIENTS? By having plenty of staff on hand during peak hours — lunch-hour and

early evening when people are going home. Having jewelers here at those times so thatquick repairs can be done. And also by making deliveries for people who work in thefinancial district. For some extremely busy people, we’ll even bring the store to them —bringing them an assortment of jewelry from which to choose.

3 YOUR CUSTOMERS SEEM TO REALLY LIKE YOUR STORE’S PLASMATELEVISIONS. DO THEY LIKE THEM TOO MUCH? We get a lot of walk-in

business from movers and shakers in the financial district. So, we always keep the newson for them. It’s a customer-service feature that doesn’t detract from the beautifuljewelry and name-brand watches we sell.

4 WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU OFFER A FELLOW JEWELER LOOKING TOMAKE A STORE AS COOL AS YOURS? The important thing is to never stray

away from who you are and the identity you’ve created in your market.

5SO, YOU’RE COOL. HOW DOES IT FEEL? Terrific! Retail jewelers have a

reputation for being stuffy and stodgy. We work hard to do things differentlyand to get people’s attention. Having Long’s downtown store place fifth in thiscompetition recognizes that effort and it feels good.

FiveQuestionsWith

CRAIG ROTTENBERGP R E S I D E N T , L O N G ’ S J E W E L E R S

L O T T A G L A S S Long’s is the only jeweler in Boston with floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides.

downtown store in1997 so they could bet-ter serve their thenburgeoning suburbanclientele. Long’s CEOBob Rottenberg vowedthat someday Long’swould return to thecity. In his mind was aparticular downtownlocation — 100 SummerStreet. Over time, how-ever, the Rottenbergsresigned themselves tothe likelihood that the100 Summer Street sitewouldn’t happen and

RED RIBBON. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, fourthfrom left, helps open Long’s store on November 2004.

COOLTHINGSABOUTLONG’S JEWELERS5

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Three memorable comments from customers of Long’sJewelers, according to Craig Rottenberg:

1 ”I want to move in here.”

2 ”I’ve got a vacation coming up. Can I take it inyour store? I can spend my time shopping and watchingTV. I might even work a little because it’d be nice to bearound your fine staff and your fine jewelry.”

3 ”I like shopping for jewelry here because of thebig plasma televisions. When my wife buys jewelry, Ican sit and watch the game. We both leave happy.”

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many stores and no onewould help him,” saysCraig. Rottenbergremembers the basicspecs of the diamond —a stone weighing 2.5- to3.0-carats of high colorand clarity. “It was def-initely a significant dia-mond,” he recalls.Long’s bench jewelerwas able to set the dia-mond and complete thejob in 15 minutes.

CUSTOM WORK

HouseDesigns

Another custom jobLong’s is particularlyproud of involved aman who wanted anengagement ring thatreflected the signaturestyles of famous archi-tects. “The customercame in with architec-ture books and showedthe jewelry designerseveral pages of archi-tectural styles he knewhis girlfriend admired,”says Rebecca Garnick,Long’s marketingdirector. “He wantedto know if Long’s couldcreate a ring thatwould represent these

styles.” The result-ing ring was

a jewelrycreation

perhaps even I.M. Peiwould be proud to own.Says Garnick: “It washand-carved, a reallabor of love for thedesigner.” The cus-tomer, of course, wasdelighted.

THE TECHNOLOGY

MoodLighting

Long’s has many coolhigh-tech gadgets. Theresounding stafffavorite, however, is acolor kinetic lightingsystem for the box dis-plays. The system isintegrated into thenine box wall displaysnear the store’s mainentrance. “It’s funwatching people comein the store,” saysGarnick. “They are hitwith these really lovelydisplays accented withcool, colorful lightingthat can be tailored tothe display, be it redand green forChristmas, pastel col-ors for Easter or anycolor or colors we pro-gram into the system.The system is very easyto use. To change col-ors is as easy as flickinga switch.” — PAUL

HOLEWA

L I G H T S H O W Long’s light vitrines are one of the most talked about features of the store.

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WHAT THEJUDGES SAID:

CELESTE SOTOLAINTERIOR DESIGNER

œ This store has a rhythmand style that flows well. Ithums!

œ I love the wall vitrines!Each one a story, eachstory pulls the viewer intopossibilities of whom theymight be, as if someonewere saying "or how aboutthis?" That feature doesthe invisible work the staffmight forget to do.

œ The design of cabinetrylooks very American. Itsuits the Bostonian busi-ness clientele. The floralcarpet is for those whowant to "stop and smell theroses”.

œ I wasn't as comfortablewith the back of the storewhere business is conduct-ed. It looks a bit like a bank.Adding a few more flourish-es of art would tell the his-tory of the jewelry better.

œ The ceilings are excel-lent. Rarely do people giveattention to this part of aroom. When done beauti-fully, they "speak" to thecabinets and designsbelow, and make the topicof lighting less obtrusive.

RUTH BATSONAMERICAN GEM SOCIETY

® Why is this store cool?Location, location, location.This store is in an office-building location on theborder of the financial dis-trict, the DowntownCrossing shopping areaand South Station. There isno lack of well-heeled foottraffic for this store!

® The nine backlit lightboxes are used not only toprovide merchandise infor-mation, they are used toconvey holiday and eventthemes. Sometimes it is assimple as changing thecolor of the light to createa theme or mood.

BRUCE BRIGHAMRETAIL CLARITY

œ While this was not myfirst choice for cool store, itsure is a great example of

good design.Without a strong exteriorfaçade, it has trouble com-peting with some of ourother entries. But it haslots of the other “necessi-ties” to make it rate cool:planning and design, fixtur-ing, color palate, lighting,and a memorable style.

œ If I could change onething here, it might be thecarpet. It is beautiful — butI think it is a bit too strong adesign element, and takesaway from the focus on thefixtures and jewelry.

GARY AND KATHY BIGHAMBIGHAM JEWELERS

œ Although the very busycarpet is an immediate dis-traction, the curved wall inthe entry with nine distinctdisplay cases is impressive.What a great way to catchthe eye of the consumerand showcase what’s newand hot! We appreciatedtheir statement that “priva-cy is extremely importantwhen making a jewelry pur-chase” and that this con-cept is expressed in theshowroom design.

ELLEN FRUCHTMANFRUCHTMAN MARKETING

œ Mixes the best of tradi-tional Boston with contem-porary touches.

œ Not sure the signage onthe awning provides thebest exposure. I might alsoconsider the name on theback wall you can see fromthat area.

KATE PETERSONPERFORMANCE CONCEPTS

œ This design says thatthat Long's has steppedinto the “high-end quality

for thechildren of the historicLong's customer” realm. Itlooks as through theycaught a glimpse of thefuture and decided to goafter it. A well-calculatedrisk!

œ I'm not sure about theoverall shape of the storeand the flow. To me, itlooks like it has too many“blind spots".

œ I might tone down thecarpet pattern a bit. Looksto me like it fights somewith the other elements.

RICK SEGELAUTHOR/CONSULTANT

œ A very old traditionalclassic Bostonian businessthat has been updated per-fectly to reflect today’smarketplace.

TERRY SISCOEXSELLERATE

œ The floor-to-ceiling win-dows on three sides of thebuilding entice the millionsof passersby to have a look.

œ The décor throughoutthe entire store is reminis-cent of the downtown car-riage-trade stores of yes-teryear. The rich darkwoods, floral carpet andgold leaf accents convey asense of trust, quality andstrength. The upscaleatmosphere provides aperfect place to make animportant purchase.

LORI WEGMANWEGMAN DESIGN GROUP

œ I love the floor planrevolving around a strongcentral curved service area.

œ Framed displays in agridded format — simplyelegant!

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READY TO SERVE. Former tennis star JohnMcEnroe visited Long’s for a charity event last year.