Walk into M.R.T. Jewelers on a weekday morning and you might see owner Joe Audette in the store’s large showroom, starting his day among the shop’s many glass cases that feature shiny jewels.
Audette grew up in Pawtucket and graduated from Providence College in 1969. Right after graduation, he started working for Zales in East Providence as an assistant manager. His manager at the time, John Chiariello, was in talks with the owners of a jewelry-repair shop in downtown Providence.
The owners, whose family had been running the shop since 1918, were going to liquidate the business. Chiariello told Audette that he would buy the shop if Audette would be its manager. Audette agreed and left his job at Zales to run M.R.T. Jewelers at age 25.
“It was a kind of a crazy partnership in the sense that [Chiariello] never really was involved in the hands-on operation of the place, he left it all up to me as a young kid,” Audette said.
Audette eventually learned the rules of the trade and helped turn the repair shop into a jeweler. He hired and trained craftsmen and invested in inventory, and M.R.T. began selling jewelry, as well as offering its original repair services.
As the shop began to make more money selling its growing inventory, Audette said he continued to invest profits back into the business. In the 1990s, M.R.T. Jewelers moved to East Providence – close to its location today – to feature an expanded showroom. By the early 2000s, Audette became the business’s official owner.
Today, at the Warren Avenue location the shop has called home since 2007, Audette works with his wife, Janice, and son David, to continue to provide the service that he says has kept the shop in business.
“We provide face-to-face, one-on-one, hands-on service to people … the way that I used to do it years ago. It’s still done the same way,” Audette said. “People seek us out because of that. This is a destination store – it always has been.”
After years of turning M.R.T. into a thriving family business, Audette is increasingly letting his son run the show.
Though the business must deal with a changing consumer landscape with the growth of online shopping and the decline in jewelry purchases in the younger generation, David Audette is optimistic there is still room for the jeweler to grow. He says the business can sustain itself by focusing on sales of engagement rings and wedding bands – products that even the younger generation still invests in. What M.R.T. is working on the most now is just getting the word out about what it has to offer.
“We’ve been referred to in the past … as the ‘best-kept secret in the jewelry industry.’ We don’t want to be the ‘best-kept secret,’ ” said David Audette.
Joe Audette is proud to see his son carry on the family business and help it grow. “That’s the most gratifying thing,” Joe Audette said. “I was able to not only provide for my family but build something for all of us.”
OWNER: Joe Audette
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Retail jewelry
LOCATION: 927 Warren Ave., East Providence
EMPLOYEES: Seven
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1918
ANNUAL SALES: WND
