Ambalu Jewelers opening first store in East Hills

There's a new jeweler in town, one that has been a manufacturer for nearly 40 years.

Ambalu Jewelers will open its first retail store this week, at 36 Glen Cove Rd. in East Hills, in a 5,000-square-foot space.

The company got its start in 1974, when Jacob Ambalu and family members began making jewelry in their native Israel. They traveled in the Middle East, Asia and Africa in search of gems, said Danny Ambalu, Jacob Ambalu's son and the company's vice president of sales. The family now lives on the North Shore.

So why go retail after all this time? "We've worked with a lot of wonderful stores," Danny Ambalu said. "We've always loved that end of the business. For the last seven or eight years, we've developed a large, dedicated group of private clientele. . . . This [retail] was the next natural step for our family to take."