A Grand Forks, N.D., jeweler will close its showroom at the end of the business
day on Christmas Eve. After 23 years, co-owner Mary Klinicke tells JCK that Plaza Jewelers will close its
showroom but remain in the jewelry repair business.
 
“We’re not young anymore,” Klinicke says. “We eliminated some of the work so it
would be easier for us to handle it.”
 
Upon closing, the store will acquire its original name—K & J Jewelers.
“We’re going to be in the same location with less space,” she says.
 
Klinicke says a lot of the surrounding independent jewelers have closed due to
the economy, but that was not a contributing factor in her and her husband’s
decision. “It wasn’t for lack of business; it was just something we thought we
should do.”  
 
The store has a laser welder; Klinicke explains that not many local
businesses have that technology. “We do our setting in the store. We
aren’t mailing our repairs. I think that’s one of our main features,” she says.
 
Of her three children, Klinicke says none of them were interested in taking
over the showroom. “I guess they saw how hard their parents worked.” Her
children have, however, helped throughout the years and are helping with the sale.

 
Plaza Jewelers is currently running a 30–70-percent-off
going-out-of-business sale.
 
Klinicke says the past 23 years in the showroom have been great. “There have
been lots of really nice people,” she says. “We enjoy the public, but we’re
hoping that we’re going to be serving them anyway.”  

JCK