Testimonials

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
MAYORAL PROCLAMATION
MAY 24, 2005

Carver W. Reed has been a good Philadelphia neighbor for 145 years. This little store at Tenth and Sansom Streets is a unique Philadelphia institution.

This small Philadelphia business, that predates the Civil War, continues to serve the interests of Philadelphians in need of the occasional and often indispensable "collateral loan". Businesses like Carver Reed are customarily "big city", yet distinguished by a personal attention to, and affectionate relationship with, their customers and the community.

The history of our city is written with special tales of uncommon people and unusual professions. Carver Reed adds a peerless chapter to our Philadelphia story.

This year, in commemoration of its 145th Anniversary, Carver Reed generously provided $145 gift certificates to the parents of the first 145 children born in January at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. This is only one example of the character and community spirit of one of Philadelphia's most historic establishments.

THEREFORE.......

It is fitting and appropriate, that the City of Philadelphia officially recognize with this Proclamation,

CARVER W. REED

in Philadelphia, and urge all citizens to appreciate and cherish Philadelphia's small and unique business.

John F. Street
Mayor

GOVERNOR'S PROCLAMATION
DECEMBER 2004

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the management and employees of Carver W. Reed & Company on the occasion of your 145th anniversary and to join you in honoring all of the children born at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital during 2005.

As the oldest jeweler in Pennsylvania, Carver W. Reed is a well-respected member of the local small business community and a vital contributor to the success and prosperity of our commonwealth. Your commercial innovation and outstanding quality of service have strengthened your business and helped to ensure its continued vitality.

..........On behalf of all Pennsylvanians, I commend Carver W. Reed & Company for its pioneering business leadership. Congratulations on this accomplishment and best wishes for unprecedented growth and prosperity in the years ahead.

EDWARD G. RENDELL
Governor
December 2004

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
Mar 21, 2005

THIS BIZ IS A CITY INSTITUTION
CARVER W. REED & CO. STILL THRIVING AFTER 145 YEARS

BY RONNIE POLANECZKY 

THREE WEEKS AGO, we heard that the 144-year-old Strawbridge's name will probably die in the latest department-store mega-merger. 

And two weeks ago, we learned that MCP, 150-year-old home of the world's first medical school for women, is closing its doors. 

So this week, it's a relief to announce that 145-year-old Carver W. Reed and Co. Inc., is alive and well.  And going nowhere. 

"Where would I go? This place is an institution," said owner Tod Gordon at a tiny 145th-anniversary celebration he'd invited me to. 

He said similar words 11 years ago, when I wrote a story about how his shop had managed to survive for more than a century in the pawn business. 

He got a tad testy, back then, when I referred to his place as a pawnshop. The term conjured images of scuzzball merchants selling used guitars and
rusted toasters, ripping off the poor, fencing stolen goods for the unscrupulous. 

"That's not what we do at Carver W. Reed," he'd said indignantly, noting that only jewelry was pawn-worthy at his place. "We do collateral loans. " 

Then, as now, his long, narrow shop looked like a quaint, rehabbed bank, its ancient, ar-moire-like safes sitting behind old-fashioned, iron-bar teller-stations, manned by clerks who'd been there for years. 

And his customers, he said, aren't just working folks who need a fast fifty to cover the rent or a few grand for a casino whirl. His record books are also crowded with better-heeled patrons. 

Like the former football star who pawned a Super Bowl ring (which he never retrieved; it sold for $6,500). And the Chestnut Hill matron who pulled up in a chauffeured Rolls Royce every year at tax time for a loan against her baubles until her mutual-fund check arrived the next month. And the weeping, laid-off CEO who knew he could borrow money against his wife's jewelry and not read about it in the Daily News' gossip pages the next day. 

Then there was the time that Harry Connick Jr. waltzed in and bought a $40,000 diamond engagement ring for his Victoria Secret-model honey (because Tod also buys and sells unpawned jewelry). 

But you can only imagine what people needed loans for back in 1860, when founder Carver W. Reed opened his shop on Market Street, across from City Hall. 

It moved into a squat, three-story building at 10th and Sansom in 1888, and it's still there. Which is kind of a miracle, given how neighboring storefronts were eventually bulldozed for parking garages and the high-rises of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. 

The original Carver Reed hired Tod's grandfather, who bought the business (and kept the name) and passed it to Tod's father, who passed it to him. 

That means that over 145 years, only two families, at two locations, have overseen the business. Think of it - the Civil War, a World War, a Depression, another World War, the '60s, the turn of a new century - have all come and gone in that time. 

In the go-go '90s, Tod had many chances to sell his operations to a few pawn-shop chains whose owners were eager to appropriate the reputation of the well-regarded Carver W. Reed name. But Tod resisted. 

"This is a business of trust," he says. "I'm the owner, I'm right here. Customers have been coming to us for years. Would they trust a company whose owner is a zillion miles away? Would you? "

It's ironic, isn't it? Tod works in an industry in which everything is evaluated for its possible sale price. But when he looked at all that his company's name stood for, he deemed it priceless. 

Eleven years ago, I found the Carver W. Reed business to be merely decent and charming, serving a wacky parade of uniquely Philly characters you couldn't envision unless you were drunk. 

But last week, as I toted up the names of once-beloved Philly institutions that are no more - Wanamaker, Buten, Lit, Schmidt, Levis, Baldwin and Stetson - I couldn't help feeling a wave of gratitude for the little shop at 10th and Sansom. 

Gratitude that it hadn't gone under by going too big, or by selling out, or by not adapting. Gratitude that it hadn't been snuffed into oblivion by corporate moguls or the steam-rolling powers of a global economy. 

Gratitude, basically, that it not only hadn't changed as the world changed around it, but was actually doing better than ever. 

Business is so good, in fact, that, in honor of the store's 145th anniversary, Gordon gave out $145 gift certificates to the mothers of the first 145 babies born in January at Jefferson Hospital, which has been on the block almost as long as his store has. 

It felt so good to do it, he repeated the process in February, and again this month. 

I was there this week when he presented the final certificate to a new mom in the hospital's maternity ward. Joining him were City Controller Jonathan Saidel, assistant city rep Bonnie Grant, some Jefferson PR people and a Channel 6 cameraman, who shot a few seconds of footage for the noon news. I'm not sure anyone even saw it. 

A few minutes later, I walked Tod back to his store and said hello to the same clerks I greeted the first time I walked through the doors, 11 years ago. 

Times might change. 

But not, thank God, at Carver W. Reed.