Bromberg awarded key to city: Bromberg’s celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Mountain Brook store in 2019

Ricky Bromberg showed up at a Mountain Brook City Council meeting last November expecting to accept a resolution on behalf of his business.

In 2019, Bromberg’s jewelry store celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Mountain Brook location.

But Bromberg left City Hall that night with more than a piece of paper. After inviting him to the front of the council chamber, Mayor Stewart Welch handed Bromberg a key to the city.

“I knew they were going to do a resolution for our 60th anniversary. That’s the reason I thought I was there, so that took me by surprise. I did not know the other part,” Bromberg said.

Bromberg, the president of Bromberg’s jewelers, gladly accepted the palm-sized key then posed for a picture with his family and Welch. Bromberg said the accolade is a testament to colleagues past and present.

“There were a lot of generations prior to me, and I always considered Bromberg’s to be really more than just our family,” he said. “We have sales associates who’ve been here for lifetimes. That was their award.”

While Bromberg’s jewelers and Mountain Brook have long been intertwined, the store’s history far predates the city. Ricky Bromberg’s great-great-great-grandfather, Frederick W. Bromberg, opened the first location in Mobile in 1836 — one year before another famous jeweler, Tiffany & Co., was founded.

That makes Bromberg’s the oldest, family-owned retailer in the United States, Ricky Bromberg said.

“Even though we’re 184 years old, I think that we’ve been able to, over the years, maintain a fresh look, whatever the era might be, and be relevant,” he said. “I think that you have to stay relevant. Our mission statement includes that we want people to have a great luxury experience. Well, the definition of what’s luxurious, what’s luxury, might evolve over time.”

Bromberg’s great-grandfather, also named Frederick Bromberg, opened a store in downtown Birmingham at the turn of the 20th century. It became the flagship location once the Mobile store closed in 1915.

Ricky Bromberg said members of the generation who ran the original store in south Alabama either retired or passed away.

“To this day, we’ve had a presence of some sort from 1900 to the present on 20th Street. Although we no longer have a retail store on 20th street, we still have our building down there, and that’s where our offices are,” Ricky Bromberg said.

Bromberg’s expanded from downtown to Mountain Brook in 1959, making it one of the first Birmingham retailers to open a branch over the mountain. A framed copy of the newspaper article commemorating the store’s opening in Mountain Brook hangs on a wall in Ricky Bromberg’s office. His father, Frank Bromberg Jr., and grandfather, Frank Bromberg Sr., are among those pictured.

Ricky Bromberg said he does his best to carry on his family’s legacy.

“You think about it, and you don’t want to be the one that blows it,” he said. “I guess there’s pressure, but it’s good pressure. You want to build on what your forbearers have already done.”

Ricky Bromberg began working at his family’s downtown store as an elevator operator on June 30, 1966, when he was a young student at Mountain Brook Elementary School. The first 50-cent coin he ever earned sits encased on his bookshelf, across the office from the newspaper article.

“That’s my first paycheck right there,” he said.

Ricky Bromberg worked at Bromberg’s during summer and Christmas breaks while growing up. But he said he didn’t start working for real until 1983, a year after he graduated from the University of Alabama with a marketing degree. He left Tuscaloosa for New York City to complete a yearlong executive training program at Macy’s before coming home to join the family business.

“I knew I wanted to do this, but I wanted to do something different first,” he said.

Ricky Bromberg has been with the company ever since and became president in 1998. The job continues to reward him.

“We’re lucky enough to be part of life’s best, happiest occasions, and so it’s kind of a great place to work from that standpoint,” he said. “I’ve said before we kind of sell happy memories.”

Ricky Bromberg credits loyal customers and employees, along with great merchandise, as factors responsible for Bromberg’s sustained success. He hopes people associate the store with quality and integrity. A positive shopping experience matters too, he said.

“We, of course, sell a product, generally, that is a blind purchase for a lot of people. A lot of people may not understand what they’re buying unless someone can explain it to them and why it’s of value and what’s different about it versus something you might see that’s similar but not the same elsewhere,” he said. “I guess that is one thing that works for us, because I think we have credibility, and I think people will come to us because I’ve heard it said before, ‘We know the truth and we tell the truth.’”

Bromberg’s closed its store in downtown Birmingham in the late 2000s. It currently operates retail locations in Mountain Brook Village and The Summit.

“We’ve been part of Birmingham’s past, and I hope that we’re a part of Birmingham’s future for many years to come,” Ricky Bromberg said.

Bromberg’s is located at 2800 Cahaba Road. Visit brombergs.com or call 205-871-3276 for more information.