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.