For decades, family-owned businesses handed down through the years have plied their trade at Boston's Jewelers Exchange Building, serving customers whose relationships with the entrepreneurs also, in many cases, are generational.
Now the younger set among the jewelers and craftsmen is making a push to promote the Downtown Crossing building in its 90th year and what it sees as its value offering: the symbiotic relationship of the 155 retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers known as "bench" workers.
One of the strengths of Jewelers Exchange Building stores is having the expertise of other industry people and the finest materials at their disposal, according to Kimberley Murphy, a third-generation co-owner of Santisi & Bove, which has operated in the building since 1947.
"If you can come here, you're coming directly to the source," Murphy said.
Constructed in 1922 as the Province Building, the eight-story building at 333 Washington St. today is heralded by a striking 151⁄2-foot street clock with 24-carat gold foil created by Medfield's Electric Time Co. and installed last year.
"We wanted a clock to make a landmark to the building, to improve the area," said Jay Shoostine of Boston Estate Buyers.
Plans also are in the works to possibly light up the Classical Revival building at night and host an event to introduce the public to its many businesses — or reintroduce the public.
"The unofficial tagline of this building should be, 'I know a guy,' " Murphy said. "We've been here for 65 years and we've relied on word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business."
The Jewelers Exchange Building is where suburban jewelers often bring in their customers' pieces for repair, where a man in search of an engagement ring can look at as many as 15 diamonds before settling on one and building the piece from scratch, and where his beloved can get it sized in under an hour.
And customers' ability to touch and see their pieces every step of the way separates its jewelers from their online upstart counterparts, according to Murphy.
"I equate it to a great piece of art — would you buy a painting without seeing it?" she said. "The Internet has become somewhat of a detriment because people think they can go and educate themselves in an hour. But you don't get the benefit of the jeweler. There's a lot of counseling that we do."
How to get to the Jewelers Exchange Building is one of the top questions fielded by the roving ambassadors of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District.
"It's a pretty important amenity and asset to the district because we have more jewelers in this area than any other place in New England," president Rosemarie Sansone said.
Most are mom-and-pop businesses whose salespeople don't work on commission.
This year will be the best on record for Sevag Zargarian, a seventh-generation jeweler whose grandfather started Boston Ring and Gem in 1967. The business specializes in high-end engagement and wedding rings and has a separate on-site manufacturing space.
"The benefit to being in the building is ... you can specialize in a niche category ... and be better quality-wise and price-wise," Zargarian said.
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