Best of Baltimore

Posted on | September 17, 2008 | 1 Comment

I got an email from a friend of mine today that we were chosen “Best Place to Get an Engagement Ring” by the City Paper. I had no idea. The crazy thing was that their write up was perfect to our brand. If I were to tell them exactly what to write in the article, I wouldn’t have been able to get it like they did. This guy must have bought a ring from me. Check it out:

Best Place to Get An Engagement Ring

Samuelson’s Diamonds – 426 W. Baltimore St., (410) 837-0290, www.SamuelsonsDiamonds.com

“You can head out to a mall, or break your bank in NYC, but if you’re getting married in Baltimore, just hop on the bus and buy your ring on Baltimore Street. The latest of three generations of Samuelsons has moved the store into the 21st century while keeping it simple. They don’t breathe down your neck, they don’t spend a lot of money prettying the place up (although there are plans for upgrading), but the options are there: If you want less expensive, they’ve got less expensive. If you want class, there’s that, too. And if you don’t know anything about rings, they won’t make you feel like an idiot. But maybe you were an idiot for getting hitched to begin with. In that event, Samuelson’s isn’t a bad place to sell your ring either.”

Does it get any better than that?

Well, not to brag, but here’s the feature in Baltimore Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 Rising Stars Issue:

Ron Samuelson, 35
Jewelry Entrepreneur
“When Ron Samuelson took over the 72-year-old family pawn business in the mid-1990s, his entrepreneurial spirit led him to explore new opportunities for the operation. In 1997, after studying the jewelry business, he launched the website samuelsonsdiamonds.com to drum up interest in the store.

The site brings diamond buyers and sellers to the downtown location from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, and has been a major driver of sales traffic—especially from young men looking for engagement rings, Samuelson says. Now he’s a developer, too: As part of the Westside renaissance, the Samuelson family—which includes his father and brother-in-law, also in the jewelry business—is redeveloping the 400 block of W. Baltimore Street in partnership with David S. Brown and A&R developers. Samuelson says he is proud that he has been able to maintain the business his grandfather started, and at the same time move it in a new direction.

“I love diamonds,” he says. “I love selling jewelry, and I’ve seen how the Internet drives everything that we do here.”

Now if Jerry Garcia would come back for one more show…