Downtown cornerstone Gregory Jewelers now up for sale

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Gregory Jewelers for sale after nearly 80 years downtown.

• Storewide sales begin April 28, with discounts reaching up to 70%.

• Owners seek buyer to preserve the store’s legacy and community ties.

Gregory Jewelers, a mainstay of downtown Morganton for nearly 80 years, is up for sale.

The store’s owners since 2017, Darwin and Debbie Wilder, have decided now is the time to retire.

“This is something we have been thinking seriously about for at least two years,” said Darwin during a lull in business on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re both in our 60s and we have things we’d like to do.”

Both of the Wilders hastened to add that the decision to retire this spring and put the business up for sale has nothing to do with the recent passing of longtime previous owner and operator Steve Gregory.

The Wilders own the business. The Gregory family continue to own the building which houses it.

“We’re looking for an offer from a buyer who would like to continue the business,” said Debbie. “But we’re going to be very careful and selective about who we might sell to. We have a responsibility to this community.”

Asked what she meant by that, Debbie elaborated, “We want a buyer who will maintain the integrity and the character of this business. Someone with very high standards of service.’

The business will be closed today, Saturday, April 25, but will reopen on Monday, April 28, with what the Wilders are calling a “preview sale.”

A “Going Out of Business Sale” will then commence on Saturday, May 2, and continue perhaps into the early summer.

“It will not be an indefinite sale,” said Darwin. “Obviously we want to move as much of our inventory as possible. But we are anxious to get on with our lives and into our retirement.”

The sale comes at an opportune time for local consumers, the couple said, with Mother’s Day, college graduations, and the late spring/early summer wedding season just around the corner.

“We have a lot of inventory to move,” said Darwin, “so we will be offering discounts of up to 70% on our merchandise.”

The Wilders moved to Burke County from Michigan in the late 1990s.

“We got tired of vacationing in a great climate and living in a horrible climate,” said Darwin. “We looked over a three-state area, and we decided Morganton was where we wanted to be.”

Although Darwin had already had a long career in the jewelry business when the couple came south, he and Debbie worked as temps at Morganton’s Continental plant before joining the staff of Gregory Jewelers in 2009.

They purchased the business from Gregory in 2017. His parents, Lavone and Callie Gregory, had operated the business since 1948, becoming full owners of the business and building in 1961.

“We have made some really good friends during our years here,” said Debbie. “This is not just a business to us. It’s about community and the trust we have developed with that community.”

“My father always told me,” Darwin reflected, “that if you take care of the customers, the dollars will take care of themselves. And that has certainly been the case at Gregory Jewelers.”

Now… back to those reasons for retirement.

“We have nine grandchildren and a 10th on the way,” said Debbie. “Our families remain mostly in Michigan, and we want to be more involved in their lives. We want to travel, and we’ve got lots of landscaping and other projects to do around the house.”

“We’re not leaving Morganton,” Darwin emphasized. “This is home, and this is where we’re going to stay as long as we’re able.”