b"CRAIG & JUDD ROTTENBERGThe Long's Rolex boutique in Boston opened in 2021.company with larger, freestanding or lifestyleat this point, it was during our tenure that center stores that have more of an experienceit launched. Its a partnership that has really offering and are able to cover all the differentthrived. Same with Patek Philippe; we just categoriesengagement and wedding rings,launched with them this year, says Craig.watches, estate jewelry, fashion jewelry, high-end jewelry, service, and all that we werentNO PRESSUREable to do when we were a mall jeweler, saysThe brothers are proud of the companys Craig. long history, attributing its early wins to their Once the malls began catering to a youngerfathers entrepreneurial spiritBob turned demographic, it was time for the Rotten- one store into a chain of stores, and even bergs to take their fine jewelry operationacquired a second chain.elsewhere. From left, Judd, Bob, and Craig Rottenberg Hes very much the driving engine, In 1999, they moved a Longs Jewel- [Our father] allowed us to bethe visionary, the bootstrap-to-build-a-ers store out of a mall for the first time,business kind of guy, Craig says. setting the company on a new path. who we were, and here we are. ItDespite Bobs ambition and drive to It was so scary, Craig laughs, butgrow the business, both Craig and Judd we survived. was the right path because it wassay they never felt pressured into working He says they all worried that withoutright for us, individually . Wereat Longs. the mall traffic, no one would find them orJudd says, He was never in the back come in, which ended up being a nonissue. here because we want to be.of our minds telling us to come into the Last fall, the company left its last mall.Judd Rottenberg, business. He never pushed.Judd says the transition out of theCraig agrees, remembering Bob saying mall space, taught us a lot about who weLongs Jewelers that they should come only if the busi-are and who we were going to become. ness called them.Store openings continue to be mile- For Judd, I think the call was pretty stone markers for Longs Jewelers. early, and for me, it took 10 years before I felt it, says Craig. It was Every time we do a store, its such a labor of love for us, Craig says. always [clear that] we were welcome, but it was never an expectation.Theyre particularly proud of the two additional stores onJudd remembers thinking that if he did start working at Longs, Newbury Street in Bostonone a Rolex boutique and the otherhe wanted to have something to offer.dedicated to Patek Philippe.I did not want to be an SOB, which in our world stands for son Longs Jewelers has been in the Rolex business almost 20 years.of Bob or son of the boss, he says.Its Boston boutique opened in 2021. When I came back, I started at the bottom. I wasnt doing anything There are some companies in our industry that I know have beenother than cutting my teeth in the business, working my way up, and in [with Rolex] for generations, where, while were certainly veteranslearning the sales part of it. Thats really where my focus was.Continued on page 2018 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2024"