Isobel "Billie" R, jewelry store owner, died at 87

Source: chron

Isobel "Billie" Rosenblum, who operated a successful jewelry store on the 15th floor of a downtown Houston office building, has died. She was 87.

She seldom advertised her wares and depended on her clientele to spread the word about what is now Rosenblum Fine Jewelers and her personalized salesmanship.

"Mother insisted on treating the customers as if they were guests in her home," said her daughter, Jo Rosenblum King.

"She offered them coffee and cookies and her friendship. She was just as happy entertaining them even if they never bought anything," King said.

One faithful customer, Edie Pruitt, remembers telling Rosenblum about the trip she was planning to Norway.

"Having grown up in Houston, I didn't have proper winter clothes," Pruitt said. To her surprise, Rosenblum suggested that she borrow her full-length mink coat for the trip. "It was absolutely the most generous thing," Pruitt said.

Rosenblum hired her salespeople from the ranks of her customers, none of whom had previous sales experience, King said.

"Obviously, they liked jewelry and so they knew something about it," King said.

One such was Nova Draughon, a customer since the 1960s who visited the store one day in 1989 and found Rosenblum pondering a problem.

"She was going to California to see her new grandson, Sam, but couldn't find someone to help in the store while she was gone. I told her I would do it."

As it turned out, Draughon worked for Rosenblum until the latter retired in 2001.

"She was wonderful. Her curiosity about life knew no bounds. We would talk about our children, how wonderful or terrible they were at the time," Draughon said.

King said her mother "was the best interviewer since Barbara Walters."

"She wanted to find out what books the customers were reading, how their families were. She learned all about their lives," King said.

Rosenblum kept a little box containing plain gold rings. "She would give these loaner rings to customers who brought their wedding bands in for repair and felt uneasy without them," King said.