Haltom’s Jeweler in downtown Fort Worth is closing its doors after 131 years
November 18,2024
See full Business Press article by Shevoyd Hamilton here.
A staple of Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth is closing its doors after 131 years of continuous operation.
Haltom’s Jewelers, which has been family-owned and operated by just two families since G.W. Haltom hung out his shingle in 1893, will be closing all three of its locations including the store located at 3rd and Main Street in downtown Fort Worth.
Current owners Jack and Ladye Ann Miller have run the stores for the last 41 years, and Jack Miller said throughout that time, he and Ladye Ann have always endeavored to maintain the high standards set by their predecessors.
“The Haltom family ran the company for 80 years,” Miller said. “The third generation decided they wanted to sell, but they never lowered the quality. They only carried 14-karat and 18-karat gold and fine diamonds. They never carried anything synthetic…they only carried high-end Rolex, Tag Heuer, and Patek Philippe watches, and we carried on the same tradition.”
The Millers have never traded in synthetic diamonds or quartz watches since they took over the store in 1983.
Ladye Ann has worked at the store since 1980.
“We have never used lab-grown diamonds, as many companies have done,” Miller said. “We have never deprecated the quality.”
The Millers both have extensive retail experience, with Ladye Ann beginning work at Neiman Marcus at the age of 16 and Jack also starting at age 16 at Edison’s, his father’s store on the corner of 5th and Taylor in Downtown Fort Worth.
Miller, 72, grew up in Fort Worth and attended McClean Middle School and Paschal High School before eventually graduating from TCU.
Ladye Ann also grew up in Fort Worth and went to Wedgwood Middle School and Western Hills High School before eventually graduating from SMU.
Jack Miller attributes Haltom’s impressive staying power to a couple of factors.
“If you are a customer and you walk in here, the people know you, and you know the people,” Miller said. “You go to some mall store that’s open seven days a week, you have no idea who you might run into, and they won’t know your buying habits. They won’t know whether you like to spend under a thousand dollars or over $5,000. We have customers that want to come in here and talk about football for 30 minutes. My wife is a football expert, and she’ll talk to them. We have other customers that want to come in here and shop for 3 minutes and then get out of here. We know what they like.”
Ladye Ann Miller, 66, runs the front end of the store in downtown and handles customer service and Jack Miller runs the back end and handles all of the financial components.
The Millers have never had a downtown store manager in their 41 years of existence, opting to run the store themselves, and they have never had any district or advertising managers.
Following about two years of discussion, they both agreed that it was time to move on.
“After 50 years of working retail, I am ready for the next step,” Ladye Ann said in a news release.
The Millers did make absolutely certain that their employees are well-compensated, paying them for the entire year of 2025, covering their health insurance and contributing to profit sharing in 2025 for the 2024 plan year.
Jack Miller said it was important to him and his wife that his workers were taken care of.
“We had good, hard-working people that were wanting to retire and we would have to try to start replacing them,” Miller said. “We have so many people that have been here 20 or 25 years, and they know if you have shopped here at least twice whether you want a cup of coffee or don’t want a cup of coffee; whether you want a bottle of water or don’t want a bottle of water…they know the customers, and you just can’t replace those kinds of people.”
The Millers downsized from five stores to three stores a few years back and started moving into private
investing through Miller Investments.
Jack Miller said that despite the stores’ closings, which have not been set for a specific date yet, his daily routine will remain largely unchanged.
“I have no interest in learning to play golf or tennis,” Miller said. “I won’t do anything different. My life isn’t going to change and neither is my wife’s. It’s just going to be a different chapter.”