'Every year is like our first year' for jewelry story ending 60th year - Palm Beach Daily News
Maison Maurice is about to finish its 60th year of business of Worth Avenue, but Henry Harary will be treating the next one just like all the others.
“Every year is like our first year,” said Harary, whose father, Maurice, founded the jewelry store. “That’s the way we look at it.”
That has been one of the keys to the longevity of a family business with three generations working at the same time.
Considering the competition and high rents on Worth Avenue, business owners can’t sit back and think they will survive on their name alone, Harary said. He has seen enough businesses come and go to know that he must go above and beyond.
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Whether that means opening up for a customer on a Sunday or going out of his way to find a specific piece of jewelry, he will do it.
“We give service, service, service,” he said, “whatever it takes.”
Harary was just 2 years old when his father started the store. Though he has a college degree from Columbia, he had known since high school that he would come back to help run the family business.
To his surprise, his daughter, Raquel, also has jumped aboard to keep the store in the family for decades more. Even Maurice, who is now 101, still stops by the store, Harary said.
Henry Harary has been working there full-time since 1977 and said it’s still what he loves to do.
“I like dealing with people, and I enjoy doing what I do,” he said.
And family-run, long-standing businesses are one of the keys to keeping Worth Avenue vital, said Marley Herring, president of the Worth Avenue Association.
When a store is in business for decades, its owners will build relationships with customers that keep them coming back. Harary said even some great-grandchildren of original customers still come into the shop.
Building that base of customers also helps other businesses on the street because people will pop into other stores while they are out, Herring said.
“I would say over 60 percent of the stores of Worth Avenue are ‘mom and pop,’ ” she said, “and they really are the backbone.”
