Reichman Jewelers Calls It Quits In Oak Lawn: 'It's Too Dangerous'

OAK LAWN, IL — In a store full of customers looking for 70-percent off deals at Reichman Jewelers’ closing-out sale, owner Odyss Tsarouhis opens his shirt to show the scar he received from a bullet wound to his chest during a violent armed robbery. It's a miracle that he survived.

On the afternoon of July 1, three masked men burst into the jewelry store, disarmed the security guard and began smashing glass display cases. When Tsarouhis emerged from the back room to see what the commotion was about, one of the robbers shot him twice in the wrist and chest.

“The bullet is still in my chest,” Tsarouhis said. “I don’t feel it.”

Between the armed robbery and a break-in a year ago last November, Tsarouhis and his partner, Paul Stein, are calling it quits in Oak Lawn. The partners have been operating Reichman Jewelers, 4439 W. 95th St., Oak Lawn, since 1984, moving to 95th Street from its original location on Ashland Avenue, where the store operated for 76 years in Back of the Yards.

Odyss Tsarouhis, co-owner of Reichman Jewelers, shows the scar where he was shot in the chest during a violent armed robbery. (Lorraine Swanson/Patch)

“It’s too dangerous,” Tsarouhis said. “It’s too crazy out there.”

There is an early 20th Century charm to Reichman’s that evokes images of young women in big hats shopping with their beaus for an engagement ring, that made the store out of sync with 21st Century reality. Tsarouhis and Stein announced their decision to close Oct. 31 on Facebook, stating that they would be leaving 95th Street for the safety of their customers and employees.

The jeweler boasts its proud legacy of honesty and personalized service since 1908, still evident today from the number of sad, long-faced customers who’ve come to say goodbye to Odyss and Paul and to buy fine jewelry for 70 percent off.

It's a different world from 1908. (Lorraine Swanson/Patch)

Tsarouhis joined the business in 1972; Stein joined Reichman two years later in 1974. The co-owners expect to be out of the current storefront before the end of January, where they have spent the last 38 years watching the pageantry of life on 95th Street.

On the first day of Reichman’s “once in a lifetime sale,” a line of customers snaked along the building, waiting to get into the store.

“We’re almost out of watches,” Tsarouhis said.

Reichman is offering even deeper discounts since the sale started, 70 percent off of fine jewelry, with an additional 15 percent off the lowest marked items in the store. If you’re thinking about getting engaged on Christmas, or shopping for the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries or just because, now is the time to visit Reichman. Tsarouhis and Stein are also raffling off a .38-carat diamond pendant valued at $1,300.

All of it must go — Pandora, Gabriel & Co., Swarovski, Frederic Duclos, Royal Pearl, Atlantic Diamond, and Rand & Paseka, to name a few.

Meanwhile, the partners plan to keep Reichman’s 1908 streak of continuous business going by moving to a small office on Roberts Road, where they will serve customers by appointment only, the address soon to be announced. Asked how many engagement rings that Tsarouhis thinks Reichman has sold over the decades?

“Tens of thousands,” he said. “I would say over 100,000 since 1908.”