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Reports: Alpha Omega owner flees amid financial struggles

December 20, 2007

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Boston—The owner of a long-standing, family-owned Boston jewelry store chain has reportedly left the country amid rumors his company is in financial ruins.

Reports from both The Boston Globe and Boston Magazine state that Raman Handa fled to India on Saturday with 17 suitcases and no plans to return.

In an article published today, The Boston Globe quotes an unnamed store employee as saying they were told the stores would be closed on Thursday but to return to work on Friday.

No one answered the phone at any of Alpha Omega's four Massachusetts stores—Boston, Burlington, Cambridge and Natick—on Thursday. The answering machine at the Natick store stated it was not accepting messages; then the line disconnected.

Craig Rottenburg, president of competitor Long's Jewelers, said he had heard the rumors about Alpha Omega.

"My heart goes out to them if they are having difficulty with their business," he said.

He said it's "always shocking" to hear of a company experiencing those kind of troubles.

According to Boston Magazine, the first public signs of problems at Alpha Omega surfaced on Tuesday, when employees arrived at the Cambridge headquarters and were confronted by people who said they represented "a consulting group working with the bank," but wouldn't tell them their names or which company they were from.

The group was asking about the stores' inventory.

According to a blog post on Boston Magazine's Web site, the magazine had stopped accepting Alpha Omega ads over the summer because Handa was behind on payments.

Handa founded Alpha Omega in 1976. Today the company has four stores in the greater Boston area and carries brands such as Bulgari, H. Stern, IWC, Lazare Kaplan Diamonds, Omega and Vera Wang.
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