Finlay ran department store jewelry for 122 years — then its clients became rivals

Finlay Enterprises was founded in 1887 and grew into the dominant operator of leased fine-jewelry departments inside America's department stores. By the late 2000s, it ran jewelry counters inside Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bon-Ton, Lord & Taylor, and Dillard's, and also operated its own specialty stores — Bailey Banks & Biddle (72 locations), Carlyle & Co., J.E. Caldwell & Co., and Park Promenade Jewellers. The company was the invisible hand behind jewelry sales at some of America's best-known retail names.

In November 2008, Lord & Taylor ended its contract with Finlay in favor of Fortunoff — which was owned by NRDC Equity Partners, Lord & Taylor's own parent company. Then Macy's announced it was ending its Finlay contract too. With its two largest department store accounts dissolving, Finlay could not sustain the business. By late 2008, credit agencies had downgraded its debt and suppliers were demanding cash on delivery.

Finlay filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 5, 2009. At the time, it operated 182 locations — 67 Bailey Banks & Biddle stores, 34 Carlyle stores, 4 Congress specialty stores, and 77 leased departments inside Bon-Ton — down from a peak of 781 locations. The company never recovered and was defunct by 2010. The jewelry counters in America's department stores, once run by a single company for over a century, were scattered to competitors and liquidators.