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east liverpool James Locke Jewelers will close
EAST LIVERPOOL
After 57 years doing business down- town, James Locke Jewelers will close around Christmas with one last holiday shopping sale, citing growing corporate and online competition as the primary reason.
“It’s related to market changes for the downtown area,” said the founder’s son, Jim Locke. “You have malls, the Internet, and it’s just difficult to do business these days.”
But more importantly, Locke said, the store’s closing is about its customers and employees, seven of whom will find themselves out of work after the store sells off inventory at a peak time for its industry.
Locke was quick to mention his mother, Margaret, who at 91 is having a hard time coming to grips with closing a store that grew with the community for nearly six decades.
When the store opened Oct. 29, 1957, after James Locke returned from his duties with the Army Air Corps, it called only a small room just beyond Sixth Street and Broadway its home. The room had no heat or water, but the Lockes were happy to scrub the linoleum floors after business each day.
Eventually, the company moved to its current location at 215 E. Fifth St., where it occupied one of four storefronts in the Holloway Building. The company grew and took over all four.
Overall, the company weathered an economic storm far longer than many of the manufacturers and other small businesses that left East Liverpool. In the process, it built up a strong local customer base, Locke said. Thus far, the jeweler’s final sale has been a success. As a result, Locke said the business could close before Christmas.
“It’s a big time for gift-giving and discretionary spending,” he said. “Our regular customers are sad, but we’re putting things on sale to thank them. This is sort of a celebration in one sense.”