Michaels Jewelry in Columbia, S.C. is going out of business. The store opened 45 years ago.
Michaels Jewelry at 4840 Forest Drive in Columbia is closing after operating for almost half a century. Owner Ron Koenig opened the fine jewelry and diamond store in 1976 in Five Points as a 20-year-old with a passion for jewelry design.
For the past 14 years, Koenig operated Michaels Jewelry at Trenholm Plaza. His decision to retire came in part due to losing a beloved employee and right-hand woman, Mary Rowe, to an illness (not COVID-19 related) in November.
“I’ve been running the store by myself, and she was the organization. And the bookkeeper,” said Koenig. “I was the spacey artist who did the creative work.”
Michaels will remain open until Koenig can sell most, if not all, of the jewelry in the store with discounts of up to 50{2f36692215c92488191f15c49f485bc8da437d4cca01014075d40c79880301cc} off, he said. Koenig estimates that the store will be open for four to six more weeks.
Michaels is the most recent store to close at the Trenholm Road shopping center. In January, J.Crew closed its Trenholm Plaza store and Stein Mart closed at the shopping center last year.
According to Edens Properties, the plaza’s management company, the shopping center has five vacancies, not including Michaels Jewelry, and 27 other tenants.
Koenig said he is looking forward to traveling during his retirement, after a long year of being the only worker at Michaels Jewelry. One thing in particular he said he will miss during retirement is designing the next generation of wedding rings for some of his clients’ children and grandchildren.
“I just really want to thank my customers for all the support,” Koenig said. “They allowed me to go from a young man to a mature business that does quality work, and they’re just wonderful.”
