Rolex Robbers

A scary heist at Schlanderer's

by Jan Schlain

posted 9/7/2010

For the third time in seventeen years, armed robbers hit Schlanderer & Sons jewelry in August. A worker at the downtown Sweetwaters took out the trash one afternoon and found a Schlanderer's employee in the alley, her hands still shaking after running out the back door and calling the police. The three men took Rolex watches and jewelry, ran out the front, and hopped into a waiting van--only to crash near Wurster Park and flee on foot.

The Main Street Schlanderer's was robbed before, in 2002, and a former South University location was hit in 1993. Unlike the South U robbery, when owner Paul Schlanderer was pistol-whipped, this time "no one was hurt," says Chuck Schlanderer, Sr. Sitting at his usual seat behind the back counter a few days later, fixing a watch, Schlanderer would say no more: "Our insurance company doesn't want us to talk." As the Observer went to press, the AAPD's investigation was continuing, but no arrests had been made.   

[Originally published in September, 2010.]