South Hill Jewelers owner closes up shop at age 85

At age 85, Joan Guerin figures it’s time to close up her small one-person jewelry shop.

Her South Hill Jewelers, 3107 S. Grand Blvd., will close on Oct. 29.

Guerin said some of her customers have been with her for years.

“Not seeing the people, that’s going to be the hardest part of it,” she said.

One of those customers is Betty Duncan, who stopped in on Tuesday morning with some items needing repair.

Duncan then got a cup of coffee and sat down in a chair so she could just hang out and visit with Guerin.

In an email, longtime customer Rachel Lorenz Devlin said, “She’s an amazing woman who has serviced many watches in my family. She is humble and deserves to be honored for her years of business on the South Hill.”

The jewelry shop is located in the upper floor of an old gas station building on the east side of Grand across from the post office and Sacajawea Middle School.

From her perch, Guerin said she has enjoyed watching children come and go from school.

But the stairway leading to her front door has proven to be difficult for customers who are older or have physical problems.

They call her ahead of time and she meets them at the bottom of the stairs, she said.

Guerin has occupied her current location since 1989.

She and her husband opened the shop in 1979 at 38th Avenue and Grand next to the former Sigman Food Store.

That property was torn down as part of the development of the Albertsons supermarket.

Guerin, who was born and raised in Spokane, graduated from Marycliff High School.

She went on to Holy Names College and earned a degree in home economics.

She taught for a few years at Marycliff before it closed in 1979.

Her father, Paul Reding, had been running a jewelry repair business, which served other jewelry stores in the region.

Her husband, Jim Guerin, joined that business, which had been located downtown.

When Marycliff closed, the Guerins decided to open a retail jewelry and repair shop on the South Hill.

Her husband died of cancer in 1980, leaving the shop to Joan Guerin.

While Guerin never got rich running her small shop, she said it has provided her with a good living.

“It’s worked OK,” she said.

Today, Guerin has five children, 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

She said she is counting on some of them to help her box up the remaining stock for the move at the end of the month.

Years ago, the area around the Manito Shopping Center had lots of small mom-and-pop shops. Hers has been one of the remaining ones.

“It has changed a lot,” she said, and her departure will mean one more change to the neighborhood.