As stewards of a 95-year-old legacy, the Runyans value deals, diamonds—and droll good timesSteve Runyan’s father didn’t believe in doling out allowances to his kids. “He’d say, ‘If you want money, you can come down to the store and work,’?” says Steve, the third-generation owner of his family’s Vancouver, Wash.–based jewelry store (now called Erik Runyan Jewelers after Steve’s son, the shop’s current owner). Erik, a computer whiz who majored in chemistry in college, helms the store’s day-to-day operations, while his wife, Leslie, acts as co-owner and manager. And a fifth generation of Runyan proprietorship may be imminent. Erik and Leslie’s daughter, Erin, a 20-year-old business major at Washington State University, just wrapped up her first full summer of working at the family business, which Erik’s great-grandfather, William Leonard Runyan, founded in 1917
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