OCEAN CITY — One of the oldest standing boardwalk shops, Henry’s Ocean City Landmarks Jewelers, will close as the calendar-year ends after over 50 years in business.
Childhood best friends Jeff Sherman and Sam Koperwas operate the store. They met playing Little League in sixth grade.
Sherman’s family owned a business on the boardwalk of Atlantic City; Koperwas worked there for a few summers. Sherman stumbled upon a shop for sale on Ocean City’s boardwalk and decided to go into business himself.
Koperwas decided to work with Sherman in opening the jewelry store. He and his wife joined Sherman on the island in the summer. In 1972, Henry’s Ocean City Landmark Jewelers made its debut.
Henry’s started as a summer business. The friends enjoyed closing the store for a few hours while they relaxed on the beach or watching a ball game with a beer before opening the shop again.
The store grew with Ocean City.
Koperwas said he is “indebted to the fact that administration was always so friendly to the boardwalk businesses and our customers kept supporting us throughout the years.”
Sherman and Koperwas not only watched their customer base grow but saw them grow up and bring their children to the store. As the boardwalk business comes to an end, Koperwas said he has witnessed three generations of customers.
“It wasn’t a transient population that we thought we might see,” he said. “People kept returning summer after summer and we got to make really strong relationships with so many families over the years. That really is the gratifying part as we walk away from this.”
Koperwas recalled an anecdote with one of the store’s first customers. She mentioned that the squash blossom necklace she bought back in the 1970s still sat in her drawer. He could not remember that instance but guaranteed her that the money she spent went straight to his bills. He said he and Sherman learned from their parents how to properly treat customers — his father owned a hardware store and Sherman’s father sold knick-knacks.
Both owner’s families grew over the years with marriage, children and grandchildren. After 50 years of business on the boardwalk, the two realized it was “time to pull away” and retire.
Koperwas is walking into his impending retirement “a little trepidatiously,” because he has never not worked. He plans to spend his retirement traveling, helping raise his grandchildren and be present with his family. He recently welcomed his second grandchild.
“We’ve been both so fully committed to the business that we haven’t really been able to spend full time with our kids growing up and our grandkids. That’s something that we realize now that we do want to spend time (with them) and be part of their lives as they grow up.”
Though the business will not be on the boardwalk, both families will continue to spend time on the island during the summer.
“It’s still home for us. It’s always going to be our summer home,” he said. “Across the country, there are very few places that have that appeal of Ocean City in the summer; it’s always going to be our happy place.”
The store’s Cape May location, which Koperwas said has always been “less hands-on,” will remain open for the foreseeable future. The owners will have input in the Cape May store; they will continue buying for the store and maintaining relationships with vendors and for custom designs.
The intention is to keep the Ocean City boardwalk business open through Christmas and bring in new merchandise. If needed, the business will offer further discounts. Finishing out the calendar year allows time for the staff to continue on until the end of the year.
Henry’s is at 1236 Boardwalk.
By JOELLE CARR/For the Sentinel