Gross Jewelers Making Big Move

H.L. Gross & Bro Jewelers is packing up and moving out of its "iconic" location at the corner of Franklin and Stewart avenues Saturday, the official end date of its lease.

The fifth generation, family owned business is heading west ... across the street ... where diSalvo Interiors once did business before relocating to Oyster Bay in 2009. A tenant occupies the top floor but the ground floor, where the design center once was, has been vacant for nearly three-and-a-half years.

John Wilton, chair of the Merchant, Professional and Retailers Group, said the move to a smaller location is because the company's Internet sales are soaring.

"A great deal of their net revenue is no longer from brick and mortar so they don't need that size of brick and mortar anymore ... They garner more of a profit from their Internet sales," Wilton said. "From a marketing standpoint, which is what I do for a living, I truly believe that's a far better visible corner than across the street into that building but that's their business."

Gross Jewelers first moved to Garden City in 1969. Mayor Don Brudie said the store has become a "tradition" at its current location - 815 Franklin Avenue.

No known tenant at this time has been named to fill the jewelry store's void on Franklin Avenue's east side. "There is no potential tenancy," Wilton confirmed.

What would you like to see move in to 815 Franklin Avenue? Let us know in the comments section below.