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Bartikowsky Jewelers was founded in 1887 by Max Bartikowsky who
arrived in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern. Pennsylvania in 1880 from his home on
the German- Lithuanian border.
As he traveled
throughout the area as an itinerant jeweler, he became friends with another
budding itinerant merchant, F. M. Kirby. They
talked about going into business together but could not agree on what to
sell. Bartikowsky wanted to sell gold, silver and diamonds; Kirby wanted to sell pots and pans. Kirby went on to become one of the founders of the largest five- and-dime store chain in the world.
Max
Bartikowsky traveled around Wyoming Valley selling jewelry until 1905 when he established a store on Main Street in Kingston. The location changed from the east
side to the west side of the Susquehanna River and back again.
In
1927 Max’s son Bernard took over the company upon his death. Bernard purchased a three story
building on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre in 1948. Bernard’s sons Leonard and Max
joined the business, as did his son-in-law Jay Karnofsky.
In 1957 Bartikowsky’s became one of the
early pioneers on catalog showroom merchandising by publishing a four-color
catalog.
The catalog sales produced a large spurt in growth. The
catalog years ended with the
1988 edition. Since, the shift
was towards a fine jewelry and gift store.
In 1972 the Agnes Flood devastated the Wyoming Valley. The store was displaced to a
temporary location until the corporation bought a large building in 1978,
the current location.
Bernard Bartikowsky died in 1990 at the age of 92 still very
active in the business. His son Leonard retired in 1994 and
his son-in-law, Jay Karnofsky, the corporation’s long time President
retired in 1999.
Jay’s son-in-law, Mac Ahmad, current Vice-President/COO of the
Corporation, joined the business 25 years ago. In this time the store has
been computerized, a website created and dramatic changes have been made in the stores showroom and general
appearance. Along with Jay’s daughter
Lynn Karnofsky-Ahmad (Secretary-Treasurer)
and Max Bartikowsky, Bernard’s youngest son and current President/CEO they
assure the business continues to run on a steady course of a new
era and the family flare of the old one.
The large 13,000 sq. foot showroom has a wide selection of beautiful
diamonds, traditional and contemporary jewelry, watches, fine crystal, china
and giftware and an extensive estate department.
Bartikowsky’s prides itself on customer service and satisfaction. There are watch and jewelry repair
shops on the premises offering all types of repairs and services including
custom creative designing.
Every customer is treated with respect and courtesy and given personal
service. Every customer’s
complaint is handled by one of the owners. We have many graduates of the
Gemological Institute of America: a certified gemologist; many from the
diamond courses; a pearl specialist and from colored stone courses.
In addition to its great selection of new merchandise, Bartikowsky’s
has a large annual Estate Sale in May at which it liquidates repurchased
diamonds, jewelry, precious stones, gold and silver that it has accumulated
throughout the year.
The company and owners, past and present have been very active
in the community returning to it what they have been given over the past 117
years.
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