Alson Jewelers celebrates its recent expansion in Woodmere
By RITA KUEBER
Meet Sam and Ida. Just over 150 years ago they were hard-working citizens of Kubrin, Poland, about 100 miles northeast of Warsaw. Sam was a craftsman who made jewelry and repaired watches, while Ida traveled throughout the countryside via horse and buggy selling Sam’s work. David Schreibman, along with his brother, Chad, are co-owners of the company that is Sam and Ida’s legacy – Alson Jewelers. “Selling jewelry and knick-knacks, helping and working in the business, that would have been quite common in the day,” David says of his great-grandmother, Ida.
Not long after the turn of the last century, Sam and Ida emigrated to America. Sam’s entrepreneurial spirit guided him to open a jewelry store at East 37th and Woodland just before 1920, with the family living in the back of the business. In 1931, although it was the height of the Depression, their 26-year-old son Alvin decided to open his first store, Alvin’s Jewelers at East 55th and Broadway. “To have the courage and foresight to do that – it couldn’t have been easy,” David states. Alvin married Edith Rubin three years later and the couple had three children – Larry, Richard and Marcia.
“Many people will remember Alvin’s Jewelers,” David says. “Those were in shopping centers in Cleveland – malls like Great Lakes, Randall Park, Great Northern, and Parmatown. At one time there were 18 Alvin’s stores, while we still had the Alson brand with its higher-end concept.” With rapid changes within the city, in 1964 Alson Jewelers (so named by combining “Alvin” and “sons”) moved to East 26th and St. Clair with a store that complemented Alvin’s Jewelers, and even expanded the downtown building in the early 1970s.
Both Alvin’s and Alson business channels thrived for decades, but by 2010, the family predicted the decline of suburban malls. “We decided to get Alvin’s stores out of malls and focus on our Alson store. We were fortunate to make that decision,” David adds. “We sort of saw that coming. It was just good foresight on our part” In 2002 David and Chad found and built on land in Woodmere, near the corner of Brainard and Chagrin to create their flagship retail center.
1931 to present day – that’s the story of nearly one hundred years of custom craftsmanship – of celebrating milestones with families throughout the greater community who rely on Alson for information and inspiration. For 93 years the family has offered insight and guidance to buyers when it comes to fine jewelry, watches, engagement and wedding rings, graduation gifts and more. The Schreibman’s family history is a remarkable American story that fortunately keeps moving forward with expansion and additional generations.

The fourth and fifth generation of the Schribeman family, from left, Kyle, Jesse, sons of co-owner Chad, co-owner David with his sons Jason and Matthew.

“About six or seven years ago we just started talking and thinking about expanding the Woodmere store,” David recalls. “We owned the land and got permission from the Village to build.” He explains that the planning and design process took some time. “Three and a half years ago we engaged an architect to design what we wanted, and that took six to eight months. We had the groundbreaking ceremony in April 2023.” The organization just celebrated the grand opening of their expansion in August 2024. And what an expansion!
The original showroom has been doubled so the building now has 11,400 square feet. Blended seamlessly alongside beautifully lit traditional glass cases are clever nooks and sitting areas for conversation and clients’ convenience. There’s a private room in the bridal area, a bar and several large-screen TVs throughout the store, plus lounge-like areas and a space where kids can play. Along the front glass wall that parallels Chagrin Blvd. is an enormous gallery of gifts, from glassware to houseware, crystal, Judaica, and other decorative pieces.
A very special feature of the expansion includes a private patio accessible through an elevator inside the building, or via an outdoor staircase. This area has a bar and seating, plus a caterer’s kitchen. Within the last month, the new entertainment area was christened – the first party for about 200 people was in celebration of the expansion
The fourth generation is slowly accommodating the fifth generation, Chad’s sons Jesse and Kyle, and David’s sons Jason and Matthew. “Talking with the next generation or the younger generations of cousins who are not directly involved – just to be able to tell them the story of how it all started is quite remarkable,” David says. [Our sons’] legacy is no different than what Chad and I had growing up. We’d see our dad (Richard) go to work every day and at dinner we’d sit around the table, and he’d tell us what was going on. Then later we did the same – talk about business with our own kids, and they had a natural interest. As young kids during holidays and weekends we did what we could do to help, and our kids did the same thing.

The Cartier island inside the newly-renovated Alson Jewelers.

“We’re fortunate in our business,” David muses. “It’s a happy occasion when someone’s coming in for a piece of jewelry. It’s fortunate that we’re able to share and celebrate, but you also need a good background to make the business work.” He explains how the next generation will need to learn it all from merchandising and advertising to accounting and repair, not to mention working the sales floor “to learn and live and breathe” what customers are asking for, and then make sure everything is running smoothly.
“There are always several Schreibmans on the floor,” David states. “We have a good management team but it’s important that we’re here every day. We’ve always done it this way. It’s one of the ingredients to help us get to this fifth generation. To keep the legacy going we are hands-on owners.”
David’s quiet joy over the business is infectious. With a history of 93 years in Cleveland, there’s bound to be repeat customers, and then some. “We ask clients how they happened to come in, and every week – every week – we hear ‘my mom shopped here,’ or ‘my grandparents bought here.’ We are sometimes on the fifth or sixth generation of customers,” he says.
The same goes for the company’s long-standing relationship with their vendors. “We’ve seen generations of management at Cartier,

The expansion/renovation includes lounges and private nooks, plus a bar with a big screen TV.

David Yurman, Roberto Coin – with many of our brands we’ve been partners with them for 10 to 30 years or longer. We became the exclusive jeweler in Ohio to offer the Cartier watch collection in 1989, and we’ve been an official Rolex jeweler since 2012,” he adds. “People come to us for merchandise they can’t buy anywhere else in the state.”
David indicates that the final piece of the company’s legacy is their 20 employees. “We have 10 on the sales floor and 10 in the back of the house – the office support team, plus two master watchmakers and a master jeweler who do repairs on site. “They’ve seen change and growth over the years. We have a great staff, and we could not have done this without all their hard work.
“We would never have been able to do this if it wasn’t for our dad, Richard, Aunt Marcia and Uncle Larry,” David says. “If not for their work – for my grandfather Alvin’s hard work, our kids wouldn’t be coming into the business. Hopefully they will keep it going for many years based on our hard work. We’re just blessed to have this time to own the business, and we look forward to passing it down in due time to let the next generation carry on the legacy.”
When asked what the original founders might say about the current store, David says, “Sam and Ida? Even Alvin, even our dad Richard, who passed away eight years ago, before we started making plans for this expansion… I think unbelievable, maybe a little crazy, but they’d definitely be proud and excited for us to be able to do what we’re doing.”