Birthstone Jewelry

Downtown jewelry store closing after seven decades

Generations have bought wedding rings at Barr Brothers Jewelry.

For nearly seven decades, they have shopped for watches, birthstones and gold necklaces for graduations, church confirmations, holidays and the like.
But the longstanding tradition of shopping at downtown's oldest remaining jewelry store will come to an end early next year, when Barr Brothers shutters its doors for the last time.

"We are selling to children and grandchildren of people who shopped here when I came here 25 years ago," said Margaret Holland, manager of the Suffolk store. "I've kind of grown up in this store.

"It's been my life, my only job. I'm sorry for me and my customers."

Barr Brothers, which opened its first store in downtown Norfolk in 1933, operated a string of 21 stores across Virginia and North Carolina during its heyday. The Suffolk store opened two doors down from its current location on North Main Street in 1938.

Over the years, the company has closed all of its stores except the ones in Suffolk, Portsmouth and Norfolk. Those three will be closing in January or February.

"The big guys are taking over," said Susan Arie, a spokeswoman for the Portsmouth-based family-owned company. "It's hard. It's become tough for the independents to make it in retail today."

The company launched going-out-of-business sales at all three stores earlier this week. The normally quiet store in Suffolk has been mobbed by shoppers looking for a good sale.

Suffolk resident Theodore McCutchin, shopping for a new wedding set for his wife of four years, said he hates to see Barr Brothers close.

"This is a landmark," he said. "It's been here since I was a kid, ... as long as I can remember."

Customers have come into the store all week with similar comments, Holland said.

"A lot of people have said how sad they are we are leaving," she said. "I think they will miss the personal service and cozy atmosphere they find here."

Andy Damiani, president of the Downtown Business Association, said the store's closing will leave a definite gap in the business community.

"It's going to be a big loss for Main Street," he said. "Whoever heard of a downtown without a jewelry store?"

posted by Eugen @ 8:24 AM