Downtown Lansing jeweler to close doors after more than a century in business

LANSING — Linn & Owen Jewelers, a downtown mainstay since it first opened its doors 107 years ago, is closing.

Workers were putting up "Stew is retiring; Going out of Business" signs Wednesday at the business that dates back to 1917 when Jesse Hanes opened Hanes Jewelry on East Washtenaw Street.

Owner Stewart Powell, 66, started working at the store when he was 15 and then bought it in 1993.

"The business has a tremendous history," he said.

The store went through three different name changes and a few different owners to become Linn & Owen Jewelers in the 1940s and has operated at four different addresses, all within a half block of the city's downtown. The jeweler moved to its current home, a 2,000-square-foot storefront at 223 S. Washington Square, in 2007.

The decision to close it wasn't easy to make: Powell has been thinking about retirement for three or four years now. He grew up in the business, learning everything he knows about jewelry repair and design, and then horology, which is the design, construction, and maintenance of clocks and watches.

"There's a favorite poem of mine," Powell said. "One of the lines is 'The clock of life is wound but once.' It's a timing thing. There are a lot of considerations. I consider myself beyond the age of invulnerability."

Being a part of Lansing's business community has been "a tremendous blessing," he said. "It's just been an honor to be here and to meet the people that we've met. Your customers become friends and that's absolutely the toughest part about making this decision."

The work of creating custom jewelry, and repairing clocks and watches "is magic," Powell said. "It's all about the people, memories, emotions, the art. There's just so many different aspects of this that have been so incredibly special to me."

But Powell said he's taken just one week of vacation since 1998 and it's time to enjoy retirement.

The business will close within the next two months after all its inventory has been sold, he said.

"I've told my landlord that I'll be done here at the end of April, but I expect that the retail business aspect of it will be done within the next maybe six or seven weeks or sooner, depending on how fast the merchandise is gone," Powell said.

The South Washington Square business will begin its "going out of business" sale on jewelry, watches and clocks marked down by up to 70% off, on Thursday, Powell said. Work the business has already committed to will be finished before the store vacates the property, he said.

"I love this place," Powell said. "I love downtown. It's been my life for most of my life."

Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .

READ MORE:

More questions than answers months after fire destroys 'highway house' near Dimondale

Lansing man's ready to put soul into new restaurant venture

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Linn & Owen Jewelers owner to retire, close 107-year-old business