Fort Smith iconic jewelry story closing after 80 years. Did you buy something special there?
It seems the whole city is waving goodbye. The signs are everywhere. From Fort Smith to Little Rock, billboards announce the end of Newton's Jewelers in downtown Fort Smith.
"I don't know how many of them there are, (billboards) but there are a lot," said Kelly Newton, president of the Fort Smith store.
From the bridge over the Arkansas River to Rogers Avenue in north Fort Smith, billboards tout the closing of a business that played a significant part in many lives. After the first week, the signs went up, the liquidation sale started and the crowds swelled in the store on Garrison Avenue where a Newton's Jewelers store has been located since the early 1940s.
The downtown store's closing won't be an easy one for today's president, Kelly Newton. A team running the liquidation sale was surprised at how quickly jewelry started selling, Newton said. The jewelry is going out the door for 70% off the price.
"We did over double of what their projection was over the first week, which was only five days," Newton said. "It was insane. There were up to 200 customers at one time in the store. It was nuts."
Newton's daughters Sara, Jennifer and Lucy greet people who stop in for a deal or to say goodbye at the Fort Smith jewelry store opened by George Newton's son William "Bill" Newton.
Kelly Newton, 73, is looking at retirement, but he questions what that will look like. "It's hard because I'm a workaholic," he said. "I love what I do, and it's pretty much a seven-day-a-week job. I stay there many nights doing custom sketches because that was the only time I was uninterrupted where I could actually sit down and finish jobs. It's different."
Newton said five people have contacted him already about the future of the 21,000 square-foot building. Only the first floor has been used, but it has a basement and a second floor. He said there are no immediate plans for the building, where he has spent so much time— including Saturdays— working.
As she stood across the street from the store's front doors, Sierra Gentry of Fort Smith held a long, wooden stake with two signs attached to it. "Newton's Jewelers store closing sale!" the sign tacked to the top of the stake read. "Save up to 70% off. Everything must be sold!"
Gentry said she was filling in for her sister Tiffany who has also been waving the sign during hours the store is open with a steady stream of customers on a Wednesday afternoon.
Sierra Gentry said Fort Smith will miss the jewelry store.
"It's very sad," Gentry said.
Newton's Fort Smith history
George H. Newton, a watchmaker, opened the first Newton's Jewelers in McAlester, Oklahoma in 1914.
Other stores followed and the chain steadily built a customer base that included people from 40 states.
Newton’s Jewelers consisted of 16 stores at one time, including two stores in Fort Smith, two in Joplin, Missouri, one in Wichita, Kansas, six in Iowa and one in Texas. One Joplin store remains open in 2023. When the Fort Smith store closes, it will be the last Newton's store.
When George Newton was ready for his sons to take them over the business, World War II broke out. Two of the sons survived the D-Day invasion at Normandy, and two others were in North Africa while their wives kept the stores going stateside.
More: Newton’s Jewelers Celebrates 100 Years
Kelly Newton said the family store was built on trust.
"I started out as a kid and people trusted their wedding and engagement rings to me," Kelly Newton said. "There was a lot of trust. I really realized early on that is what we had, trust. You can buy jewelry any place 24 hours a day. It is not really a commodity that is hard to find. What is hard to find is someone who will tell you the truth and be honest with you. And that is really what we have wanted to be."
He said he has no way to know how many wedding and engagement rings have sold at the store over the decades.
"Who knows? I don't know." Kelly Newton said.
Newton said the store has also been known for the Rolex watches that were sold over 60 years.
"To this day, the Newton family considers their customers to be the life and breath of their business," the store's website states.
During the store's final days, long-time customers are going to the store's Facebook page to leave memories.
Susan Johnson commented that her wedding rings came from Newton's 45 years ago. And Ronnie and Shirley Shoppach posted that they got their rings 50 years ago.
The store celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the family business in 2014.
Although a date for the last day in Fort Smith has not been set, the stream of customers who want to say goodbye continues to come through the front door, Jennifer Newton said. The store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and closed Sundays.
Just don't try to call.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Newton's Jewelers to close in Fort Smith.
