Our story begins with our grandfather, Peter, who worked as a second-generation watchmaker in his father’s jewelry store in Austria-Hungary, which became part of Yugoslavia after WWI. (Although our surname is Hungarian, meaning “flower”, our ancestors were German-speaking.) In 1921, Peter and his family immigrated to Chicago where he spent 14 years working as a bench jeweler in the Jeweler’s District at Madison and Wabash. By 1936, during the Great Depression when employment was scarce, Peter made the bold decision to open his own business, first located at 910 Chicago Avenue in Evanston.
The store relocated to 703 Main Street in the early 1960s where it remains today and the name was changed to Virag Jewelers Ltd. Today, the third-generation owner Peter, along with sister Terri, Peter’s wife Denise, and the friendly staff at Virag Jewelers continue the legacy of quality sales and service that their grandfather started over 80 years ago.
