About
Finlay began as a mail order house for fine jewelry in 1887. In 1924, Abraham Hirshberg, a successful diamond merchant who had come to the United States a penniless teenager in 1888, took over the debt-ridden business and made it grow. Soon there were Finlay-Straus stores throughout the metropolitan New York area. Success permitted Hirshberg to experiment with different business strategies. At one point, Finlay had jewelry concessions in furniture stores. An exceptional opportunity came along in 1942 when a representative of a regional department store group asked if Hirshberg could run its jewelry departments. A new and dramatic shift was about to take place in the Company's business....