Jewelry

Fredericksburg’s iconic RF&P Railroad Bridge was only a year old in 1928. Ford’s Model T stopped production that year and the Model A was born.

“Of course, that was before my time,” said Jerry Ulman, who with his wife, Donna, owns and operates one of the few businesses in Fredericksburg still in the same family after 90 years. “My Uncle Simon started it. We’ve been in the same place with the same name ever since.”

Simon and brother, Jerome Ulman, Jerry’s father, were business partners, working in the store together through the Great Depression, World War II and the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s.

“When my uncle died suddenly in 1961, my father started the process of buying the store from his widow when he died in 1963,” Ulman said. “I was in high school at the time, just a teenager.”

Ulman’s mother, Angeline, ran the store with Ulman, who also worked there after school each day.

“As soon as I finished school I came on board full time and the two of us built it back up,” Ulman said. “My uncle had slowed down in his later years so it required some effort to get the store back into full activity.”

Angeline retired in the early 1990s and passed away in 2000.

Jerry and his wife, Donna, have been married for 45 years. They have two children and have lived in Fredericksburg all their lives. She does most of the gift buying and they share the role of jewelry buying.

“My wife has always been very instrumental in every aspect of the store,” Ulman said. “She has extremely good taste and provides us with a very good selection for people to choose from.”

The business also keeps seven additional employees busy, between part- and full-time workers. They have expanded the store space twice in the past 50 years. In addition to jewelry, they sell china, crystal, flatware, handbags and many gift items.

Ulman said the biggest change he’s seen in his years as a business owner is the internet, which has required him to do some of his buying and selling differently, establish a website—Ulmansjewelry.com—and develop a presence on social media.

But, he says, “The services we provide are something you can’t buy over the internet. One of the main things that sets us apart is our good customer relationships.”

Ulman has seen his own share of history during his proprietorship, surviving another major flood in 1972, selling to such customers as actors Judge Reinhold and Sally Struthers, and even weathering an earthquake.

“The whole building shook, everything was shaking, we thought it would all come down,” Ulman said, although they lost only one piece of crystal to the 2011 Louisa County quake. “It was pretty shocking to realize what we were experiencing.”

Ulman attributes his longevity and business success to old-fashioned values. The staff doesn’t sell on commission and is instructed not to pressure customers. Most of their business comes from word of mouth.

“I like to do things the way [my dad and uncle] would have done them, it seems to work pretty well,” Ulman said. “We try to be reliable, trustworthy, providing personalized service with courtesy and respect.”

Ulman was recognized for those qualities by the Rappahannock–Fredericksburg Rotary Club, which presented him with the 2017 Ethics in Business Award, given annually to a local businessperson who demonstrates the highest ethical standards.

“It’s very gratifying to sell engagement rings to the children and grandchildren of people who bought their own engagement rings here,” Ulman said. “When someone brings in their treasures to be repaired, we want them completely comfortable, knowing nothing is going to happen to their valuable heirloom or priceless piece of jewelry.”