116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Ginsberg Jewelers closing after 93 years in Cedar Rapids
Family-owned business now in its fourth generation
CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s been said diamonds are forever. But jewelry stores that sell them are not.
After 93 years in business at various locations in Cedar Rapids, Ginsberg Jewelers will soon close. During those decades, it’s been a family-owned business and a mainstay in the city’s retail community.
Steve Ginsberg, 63, is the fourth generation — and the last — to run the family business.
“All of my (three) sons are not interested in coming into the business,” he said, adding he’d never pushed them to do so, just as his parents never pushed him or his siblings.
Bringing family members into a business against their will, he said, “would only bring resentment. Why would you want that? So I don't fault them at all.”
Several factors, Ginsberg said, led to the decision to close the store.
“It's becoming too expensive — the overhead, the rent,” he said. “We just simply don't have enough sales to support the expense of this mode of retail selling. And I’m unwilling to go more into debt to keep this mode of selling going. The bank is unwilling to extend credit. The bank is not a willing partner like they used to be.
“I need to cut my losses and figure out how to move forward. The building lease is very expensive, and there's no negotiating room. The landlord is not a willing partner in that regard,” he said.
Ginsberg's lease on the 2,400-square-foot building at 4647 First Ave. SE, runs another 14 months, Ginsberg said, adding he hopes the current sale of up to 70 percent off will be successful and allow closure by year's end.
No additional price cuts will be made, he said, adding he’s looking at subletting the building or perhaps buying out the lease.
Ginsberg said he’s sad about the closing and knows it’s tough for his father, Herman Ginsberg, 97, who retired from the business in 2019. Herman joined the business in 1948 after his discharge from the Army.
"Herman has given his whole life to this business, as his father did and his grandfather. I understand totally, and I validate that. But I still have to make these decisions,“ Ginsberg said. ”It would be sadder for me if I don’t.“
No car, no plane
Herman Ginsberg confirmed his son's words.
“I'm very sad. Ninety-three years ago my father (Izzy) started that store. He came up from Missouri and after he saw Cedar Rapids, he said it was like heaven compared to Missouri," Herman Ginsberg told The Gazette.
Herman Ginsberg agreed economics forced the closing.
"We did not own the building,“ he said. ”We were tenants. The rent was raised to what I consider to be an unreasonably high level.“
Herman Ginsberg said he has many fond memories of the store’s customers and employees from his years at the store. He now lives in Terrace Glen Village, a Marion assisted living facility, and no longer drives but will drop into the family’s jewelry store when his son will drive him.
"He (Steve) actually took my car and sold it. I can fly a plane, but I can't drive a car," he joked, before remembering his plane also had been sold.
Herman had two younger brothers who died in their 50s or 60s. Asked the secret of his longevity, he said, “Good luck. I'm going for a 100 or more.”
He laments the family's fifth generation is not interested in taking over the business.
Steve Ginsberg said for a while, he, too, did not want to join the family business.
"I didn't want anything to do with this business growing up because I didn't have confidence,“ he said. ”I didn't know the product. It wasn't until I went to New York“ and looked at other things, he said.
"I knew it was going to fall into my lap one day,“ he said. ”So I started taking classes and ended up working for the Gemology Institute of America and discovered I loved it. It had an artistic attraction to me. I decided to come forward to Cedar Rapids and into the business.“
As for what’s next, he is exploring options, saying he’s too young to retire and still has a son in college.
Several customers, he said, have asked him if he would be available to advise them in the future for a consultant's fee, which is something he’ll consider.
Leaving downtown
Ginsberg Jewelers decided not to return to downtown Cedar Rapids after the 2008 flood. After a couple of years in a temporary storefront, the store moved to Marketplace shopping center across from Lindale Mall in 2010.
In retrospect, was that a good move?
"Oh, my God, yes,“ Steve Ginsberg said. ”It was too late in coming. If we had moved earlier, we would've escaped the flood. Also, downtown was becoming more of an office park and less of a retail center.“
The store’s location now is probably “the metro's most vibrant retail area,“ he said, noting other local and franchise jewelry stores are located in the same area.
Ginsberg’s retail niche has been fine jewelry, he said, and buying fine jewelry — like engagement and wedding rings — is often an emotional event.
“A jewelry store cannot be hidden,” he said. “It has to be in front of the public reminding them, ‘Hey, buy some jewelry.’ It's a good business. And it's mostly (run by) honest people.”
Ginsberg history
1920: Isadore “Izzy” Ginsberg, whose father, Charles, immigrated from Russia, opens a pawn shop in Sedalia, Mo., and marries Rose Alport, a Romanian immigrant, in 1925.
1930: Izzy Ginsberg buys Rozen’s Pawn Shop in Cedar Rapids, saying he thought he “was in Paris compared to Sedalia.” He soon opens a second storefront that was part pawn shop, jewelry store and department store. He begins an amateur talent radio show from the back of the store.
1941: Izzy Ginsberg opens Ginsberg’s Jewel Box, 205 Second St. SE.
1948: Herman Ginsberg, after being the first in his family to graduate from college, joins the family business. He marries Phyllis Bermann in 1957, and they have three children, including Steven.
1960s: Herman and his brothers, Lou and Stanley, expand Ginsberg Jewelers into a five-store chain..
1971: Ginsberg Jewelers, at 200 Second Ave. SE, replaces pawn shop items with fine jewelry, china, silver patterns and Swiss watches.
1984: The Ginsberg chain dissolves after Lou Ginsberg’s death, with Lou’s oldest son, Mark, taking over the Iowa City store, Stanley the Des Moines store, and Herman retaining the downtown Cedar Rapids store.
1993: Herman Ginsberg’s son, Steve, joins the business in Cedar Rapids.
2008: The monumental flood in June closes the Ginsberg store at 219 First Ave. SE, which temporarily relocates to the Twixt Town Shopping Center.
2010: Ginsberg Jewelers opens in the Marketplace shopping center, 4647 First Ave. SE.
2023: Ginsberg Jewelers announces it is closing after 93 years in Cedar Rapids.
Oral History
To view the “Oral Histories Live!” interview with Herman Ginsberg at The History Center on Nov. 27, 2018, go to historycenter.org/oral-histories-live
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