Adler’s closing in New Orleans after century in business | Business News

A New Orleans tradition, that exists only as an old memory, is the excitement of a day spent shopping on Canal Street when it was lined with department stores and ladies donned white gloves — even if only to meet friends under the clock at D.H. Holmes.

In the middle of that bustling strip was Adler’s, a family-owned jewelry and gift shop, where generations of brides registered for china, crystal and sterling flatware and krewe captains commissioned pins for their courts.

While the gloves and hats on Canal Street long ago gave way to hotels, quick-serve restaurants and T-shirt shops, Adler’s, once known as the Tiffany’s of the South, has remained — until now.

After 127 years in continuous operation, Adler’s is going out of business, according to its fourth-generation owner, Coleman E. Adler II, who is retiring.

Adler, 82, said the decision to close the two stores, located on Canal Street and in Metairie, was his alone.

“I will be 83 in January, and I have been doing this a long time,” said Adler, who took over the business in 1973 at age 29, after his father and uncle died within a month of each other. “Many of my friends did this a long time ago. It is time.”

His four children, who have worked beside him in various capacities at Adler’s over the years, will not keep the business going.

“They have their own careers and their own likes and dislikes,” he said. “They have an opportunity to do something they want to do if I don’t just hand this to them and obligate them to continue something that may not be their first choice.”

No firm date has been set for the closure. Adler said the stores will first liquidate their inventory at a “retirement sale” that is expected to take several months.

Adler’s is the latest in a growing list of New Orleans family businesses to close or sell to larger competitors in recent years. In the past six months, Canal Barge Co., Elmer Chocolate and Langenstein’s have all sold, ending, in each case, more than a century of local ownership in brands that had become institutions.

Alder’s departure will not only mark the end of an era in local retail but will leave a hole on Canal Street, which Coleman Adler II, continued to champion long after the iconic avenue lost its reputation as the city’s premier shopping destination. Adler’s has operated its flagship location at 722-724 Canal St. since 1909, serving as a high-end anchor amid the strip’s changing fortunes.

“Our building is iconic on Canal Street,” Coleman Adler said. “I don’t intend for that landmark to disappear. I just want to see where else we can go with it.”

‘Tiffany’s of the South’

Adler’s dates back to 1898, when Coleman E. Adler I, an immigrant from Slovakia who came to New Orleans from Alabama, opened a fine jewelry and gift store on Royal Street after settling here with his new wife.

The store did well and, in 1902, moved to the 800 block of Canal Street. At the time, Galatoire’s was still a year from opening on Bourbon Street and Antoine’s had yet to create its signature Oysters Rockefeller, according to a timeline prepared by the Adler family.

In 1909, the store moved down the street to its current location. By then, Adler’s was well established as one of the region’s premiere jewelers. In 1912, the state of Louisiana commissioned the firm to design and manufacture the official Louisiana Centennial coin. A few years later, Adler’s was tapped to design the perpetual silver football trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Tulane University and Centenary College.

In the 1930s, Coleman Adler’s sons, Milton and Walter, joined the family business, which officially changed its name to Coleman E. Adler and Sons. The store prospered along with the fortunes of Canal Street, which was lined with department stores like D.H. Holmes, Maison Blanche and Godchaux’s and attracted shoppers from throughout the region.

In 1973, Milton and Walter died just 30 days apart. Coleman E. Adler II, not yet 30 and with a house full of young children, stepped in, taking over the duties that his father and uncle, together, had been performing for more than 40 years.

“This was the only job I have ever had,” Adler said. “I am not going to foist that upon my children. They will have a choice.”

Changing times, higher costs

Under Adler’s leadership, the store expanded and grew in new ways, even as the world and retail shopping habits were changing. In the 1970s, Adler’s opened a Metairie location in Lakeside Shopping Center, which relocated in 2018 to the Trader Joe’s shopping center on Veterans Boulevard.

For a time in the 1990s, Adler’s had a West Bank location in Oakwood Shopping Center. In the early 2000s, it branched outside the metro area with a store in Baton Rouge, which remained in operation until 2023.

At the same time, independent jewelers were beginning to face pressure from a variety of forces. Legacy jewelry retailers are closing as longtime owners age out and younger generations opt not to keep the family business going, statistics show.

In the first quarter of this year alone, 167 jewelry stores across the country shut down, more than 20% more than during the same period a year ago, according to the Jewelers Board of Trade.

What’s more, nationally known designers that command brand loyalty among their wealthy customers are exercising greater leverage with local retailers, experts say, demanding a higher percentage of sales and specific amounts of store space and marketing support in return for their exclusive merchandise.

“A lot of retailers work directly with designer brands and the designers set terms like any other business that come with strict controls,” said Amanda Gizzi, senior vice president of corporate affairs at Jewelers of America, an industry trade organization.

Some big luxury brands, like Rolex in particular, have cut back on the number of authorized dealers with which they do business, including Adler’s, as they open up their own proprietary stores. Adler declined to discuss why the store lost its Rolex dealership three years ago. Rolex also declined to comment.

More recently, the Trump administration’s tariffs, along with higher prices of precious metals, have increased the cost of doing business at a time when changing consumer patterns have decreased demand for the pricey silver flatware and ornate china dinner settings that stores like Adler’s still carry.

“Tariffs have made it hard,” Gizzi said. “Retailers are eating a lot of the cost to keep from passing it on to their customers.”

Adler acknowledges the headwinds but said they didn’t impact his decision to close the stores.

Looking ahead

Adler said that in retirement, he’s looking forward to devoting more time to civic and charitable affairs, something his family has always done behind the scenes.

“It makes me feel excited that I will be able to continue to do something other than this for the good of the community,” he said. Serving on foundation boards and working with organizations centered on education, the arts and historic building preservation are the causes he particularly holds dear.

He hopes his children — Tiffany Adler, Mikal Adler, C.E. Adler (Coleman III), and Millie Adler — will also continue to devote their time to serving the community, as they already do, and suggests they may develop new business ventures based on their experience at Adler’s over the years.

As for the Canal Street building, Adler said there are no plans to sell it or lease it to a T-shirt shop operator.

“The family members will maintain offices here and pursue what they want to pursue from here,” he said.

Adler family members declined to comment on their future plans, but in prepared written statements, they praised their father’s decision and expressed gratitude for the opportunities he has given them.

Mikal Adler said the pending closure of Adler’s is a milestone, not an endpoint, in the diverse legacy of the Adler family.

“What started with one, is now many. Many businesses, many Colemans, many Adlers, many stories,” he said. “And many more to come.”