For them to continue to support us for the last 40 years is a big deal. I just want to say thank you to the community.”

Tom Johnson

After nearly 40 years of service, R. L. Johnson Jewelers will be closing their doors for the final time on Dec. 24, 2024. Since 1985, Johnson Jewelers has been a staple of the Hastings business community marking holidays, anniversaries and weddings for generations of Hastings residents.
Started in 1985 by Dick Johnson, R. L. Johnson Jewelers was taken over by Johnson’s son Tom Johnson in 1999 and remained under family control ever since. As to how the business has changed under his stewardship, Tom references the advent of the internet changing shopping practices of jewelry-buyers. Especially for items like engagement rings. Rather than come to a store to peruse through the store’s stock, “they come in and show you a picture,” said Tom.
Buyers have become much more able to look broadly at styles and then dictate those styles to a jeweler, rather than simply going with what the store has in stock. This foundational shift to how jewelry is purchased changed much of the business model for R. L. Johnson Jewelers.
“We’ve had to be a lot more careful with how we inventory,” said Tom.
With customers coming to the store with specifics potentially already in mind, what the store is able to keep as inventory changed in the face of increased custom orders.
Another shift in the industry has been the invention and increased popularity of lab-grown diamonds. Lab-grown diamonds are cheaper than natural diamonds because they are able to be produced in labs by simulating the high pressures and temperatures within the earth or by using a chemical process known as Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). Lab-grown diamonds can be created in weeks which generally makes them cheaper than natural diamonds. This newfound competition between natural and lab-grown diamonds has shaken up the diamond industry, and therefore affects jewelers.
As to the closure of the store, Tom cited the long hours of retail: “Thirty years of retail, that’s a lot of hours and normally six days a week.”
According to Tom the closure comes at the end of the store’s lease and “The timing just seemed to be right. […] When I made the decision, I knew it was the right one.”
The store’s closing sale offers 40% off in-stock merchandise through to Christmas Eve.
For Tom, however, the community support not just in the face of the store closing but over the years has been overwhelming: “For them to continue to support us for the last 40 years is a big deal.”
“I just want to say thank you to the community,” said Tom.