Fort Smith, Ark. – After eight decades in business, Newton’s Jewelers in Fort Smith, Arkansas, is closing and will begin liquidating its inventory later this week.
George H. Newton Sr. opened the first Newton’s Jewelers in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1914. He’d moved to McAlester from Camden, Arkansas, to build his business.
There he married and had five children, four of whom (all sons) followed him into the family business, opening stores in Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa and Arkansas.
William “Bill” Newton, the youngest of the four sons, opened the Arkansas Newton’s Jewelers store in the early 1940s. He owned it until his death in 2001, when he passed it on to his son, Kelly Newton.
Today, Kelly runs Newton’s Jewelers with his wife, Marilyn Newton, and their three daughters, Sara, Jennifer and Lucy.
When Kelly made the difficult decision to retire earlier this year, the close-knit family followed suit.”It’s kind of all or nothing,” he said.
Newton’s Jewelers has been a member of Jewelers of America since 1978, and has been an American Gem Society member store and official Rolex jeweller for decades.
In 2019, Kelly received the AGS’s Robert M. Shipley Award, which is presented annually to an AGS member in recognition of their years of service and commitment to the fine jewellery industry.
The store’s liquidation sale will open to the public on Thursday.
Inventory will be discounted by up to 70 per cent, with Kelly noting that the store will be “opening the vaults” and selling pieces that even its most loyal customers haven’t seen. (Rolex watches are excluded from the sale).
The store spread the news of its closure via social media, with many of its followers lamenting the loss of a long-standing local business that was an integral part of the community.
“Congratulations on your retirement. But, damn, I hate to see an iconic business close up shop,” one commenter wrote on Instagram, while another said “I can’t ‘like’ this!”. The shop was a fixture in our community, but it’s your family we all love! Praying for many blessings for your whole sweet family”.
One Facebook commenter wrote: “I can’t imagine Ft. Smith without Newton’s Jewelry. Wishing you all the best. “I’ve loved the store my whole life; it’s who we are,” Kelly said. “Our community has just been amazing. They built us up and we gave back. “It’s been kind of a love affair for us all these years. I hate to see it end, but all good things must come to an end.
