After 107 years, Smith & Son Jewelers closing Springfield shop
SPRINGFIELD — After 107 years, the fourth-generation family business Smith & Son Jewelers is closing its Springfield location.
Crowds lined up outside the store at 735 Sumner Ave. Monday before a 10 a.m. start of an invitation-only liquidation sale that offered discounts up to 70% off, said jeweler Andrew W. Smith.
Hours later, customers were still shoulder-to-shoulder at display cases. Some were picking up repair pieces. A man asked Smith if a watch looked too similar to one he's owned for years but that Smith knew from memory.
A couple wished each other an early Christmas.
The Enfield, Connecticut, location on Hazard Avenue will remain open, Smith said. But Smith's father, watchmaker Fred Smith, is retiring.
Andrew Smith said after 30 years in the business with children and grandchildren of his own, it's time for him to at least semi-retire.
The Enfield store has a skilled person running it, and it's easier to manage, Smith said.
"The thing is, our best year was last year and our best year up until that point was the year before that," Andrew Smith said. "It's not the business. It's time."
Smith & Son Jewelers is closing its Springfield shop at 735 Sumner Ave. Here, customers enter the shop on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican)The Republican
The is no set final date for the store's closing. Smith said he'll just keep going until he's sold off the inventory. Nine people work there, and most will shift to the Enfield store. The family owns the building and will seek out a tenant.
Smith & Son has four generations of customers as well. Jewelry is personal, so Smith follows families through every christening, graduation, engagement, wedding and anniversary.
"People bring their grandchildren in," he said.
Fred Kalman immigrated to the United States from Latvia, and opened a shop on North Main Street in 1918. Back then, it was the Jewish neighborhood of Springfield.
Smith & Son Jewler, a fourth-generation family business is closing its Springfield Store. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican)The Republican
His daughter, Ruth Kalman brought her beau, a man who worked shoeing horses and straightening truck frames, into the shop one day.
The boyfriend, Sam Smith, started watching Fed Kalman set a new mainspring in a pocket watch. Intrigued, Smith started asking questions.
Kalman let him try one. Smith later ended up marrying Ruth, becoming Fred Kalman's son-in-law and business partner at the shop.
Sam Smith Sam moved the business out near The X intersection in 1959.
Stories by Jim Kinney
Read the original article on MassLive .
