After 61 years on Courthouse Square, Gene’s Jewelers is closing by Christmas

Staff report

WARREN

After 61 years on Courthouse Square, Gene’s Jewelers is closing by Christmas, said Patricia Battista-Fleeger, one of the co-owners.

Battista-Fleeger’s father, Gene Battista, started the business in 1954 in part of the first-floor space occupied by the current Best Western Park Hotel, 136 North Park Ave.

It moved in 1973 to its current space at 112 North Park, a short distance south of Best Western.

Battista-Fleeger came back to the area in 1988 and helped run the business with her then-husband Tom Crowley. Gene, now 93, retired about 2000.

Battista-Fleeger said the store is closing because there has not been enough business to justify keeping it open and because she wants to spend more time with her parents.

Crowley, the other co-owner, said online shopping has hurt stores such as theirs. The store also lost a lot of customers when Delphi Packard Electric offered buyouts, and many people took the buyout and moved away from the area, Crowley said.

The store began a going-out-of-business sale Nov. 4.

Crowley still plans to repair jewelry, and Battista-Fleeger plans to continue with her jewelry-appraisal business.