Wilson & Son Jewelers was founded in 1905 by my great-grandfather Morris Wilson, a watch- and clockmaker who immigrated to the United States from Russia in the 1800s. His first store was located on Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Fortuitously, the store was directly across the street from Z & Z Restaurant and Bakery, which was owned by my grandmother’s family. This proximity led to Morris’ son, my grandfather Meyer “Mike” Wilson, meeting my grandmother Adele. They married, had a son named Ira (my father), and my grandmother joined the business. In 1926, they relocated the business to Bronxville, and, in 1932 during the Great Depression, my great-grandfather and grandfather opened the store in Scarsdale.
During the late 1950s, my father joined the business as a salesperson and bench jeweler. When the 1970s rolled around, my mother, Lynne, joined “temporarily”—which ended up being for the next 30 years as a buyer, salesperson, bookkeeper, and more.
Our Bronxville store closed in the mid 1970s, predating the biggest growth period in our company’s history during the late 1980s and into the early ’90s. Not only did we expand the physical size of our Scarsdale store, my brother Matt and I came into the business as certified gemologists. In 2006, we opened a second location in Mount Kisco.
As the torchbearers of Wilson & Son Jewelers, my brother Matt and I are proud to carry on the same traditions of integrity, honor, and high principles my great-grandfather brought to this country over a century ago.
—Michael Wilson, Co-owner with Matthew Wilson, Wilson & Son Jewelers
â–º For more of Westchester’s 100-Year-Old Businesses, click here.
â–º For more from 914INC’s Q2 2013 Issue, click here.