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After 80 Years In Business, Jeweler Closing Its Doors

The store was in the national spotlight last year.

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Stanley Jewelers Gemologist in North Little Rock, AR, is closing its doors after eight decades in business.

In a letter posted on the store’s website, Loyd Stanley writes that he’s decided to retire. Stanley’s parents, Sally and Charles Stanley, borrowed $400 and opened the business in 1936.

“In 1959, I joined the family business and we opened on Park Hill in 1960 … where over the years, all of my children have contributed to the growth and success of Stanley Jewelers,” he writes.

He said he arrived at the decision to close the store after “much deliberation and study.”

Loyd Stanley’s daughter, Laura Stanley, is also part of the business.

The store is now holding a going-out-of-business sale that Loyd Stanley says will be “the largest sale of fine and estate jewelry that Arkansas has ever seen.”

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The store received national attention last year when the Esperanza, one of the largest diamonds ever found at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park, was cut there by Mike Botha of Embee Diamonds.


Read the letter.

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It Was Time to Make a Decision. It Was Time to Call Wilkerson.

Except for a few years when he worked as an accountant, Jim Schwartz has always been a jeweler. He grew up in the business and after “counting beans” for a few years, he and his wife, Robin, opened Robin James Jewelers in Cincinnati, Ohio. “We were coming to a stage in our life where we knew we have to make a decision,” says Jim Schwartz. He and Robin wanted to do it right, so they called Wilkerson. The best surprise (besides surpassing sales goals)? “The workers and associations really care about helping us move out own inventory out of the store first. It was very important to us.”

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