Couple recovers ring from bankrupt jewelry store

A Schaumburg couple anxious to recover their repaired engagement ring from a bankrupt jewelry store got it back just before the Woodfield Mall business reopened for a liquidation sale.

Despite the reassurances of the bankruptcy trustee for Christian Bernard Jewelers, Mark and Kim Zelden had feared the worst for Kim's 10-year-old engagement ring from just after Christmas until it was put back in Mark's hand on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

"I sort of equated it to a person in a coma, where the longer they're in the coma the less likely they are to come out of it," Mark Zelden said.

The recovery transaction was ultimately completed with a rehired employee through the metal bars of the still gated store, he said.

The Zeldens had brought the $4,000 ring to Christian Bernard Jewelers in December. They received a phone call on the afternoon of Christmas Eve that the ring was ready, but were too busy with company to pick it up immediately.

When they did get a chance a couple days later, they discovered the store shuttered. The company had declared bankruptcy.

In early January, they heard from the New Jersey-based attorney who had been assigned the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee. He told them the return of all personal property held at the store was something that would take place in due course.

But when news broke that Christian Bernard stores would temporarily reopen for a liquidation sale, he and his wife became even more nervous. It wasn't until the ring was back in his hand that Mark Zelden felt entirely assured.

A representative of the Woodfield store Friday said the store would remain open until its stock was sold, but couldn't estimate how long that would be.

Christian Bernard Jewelers operated 16 stores nationwide, with the only other Illinois location being at Chicago's Water Tower Place.