Sonny’s Diamonds Jewelry is closing its doors after more than 30 years of doing business in Denver.
“It’s tough out there,” said co-owner Michael Nedler. “I’d like to say that the economy is coming back; I think it is, but it has a long way to go and luxury items are still not the top of people’s lists.”
Nedler, 60, said that the business was doing fine when he made the decision to close the store, but that he was just ready to move on.
“The plan was going to be that (my business partner) was going to take over, but it has just become so difficult to run a jewelry store as it is a very expensive proposition,” Nedler said. “He just plain didn’t want to take it on and I didn’t want to wait any longer.”
Nedler and his business partner Mark Allen moved the store in 2009 from its original Cherry Creek location — which was founded in 1979 by Nedler’s father, Sonny — to its current spot on South Colorado Boulevard.
At that time, the partners revamped the store’s brand to a rock-‘n’-roll-themed jewelry store, renaming it Sonny’s Rocks, in an attempt to separate it from the posh image of the higher-end Cherry Creek area.
“As people came in, they really enjoyed the experience and the look of the store, but there seemed to be a difference between what they perceived us to be and what we actually were,” Nedler said.
When the store continued to receive phone calls from people looking for rocks for landscaping projects and other purposes, and after sensing enough customers’ confusion over the store’s concept, the owners changed the name back to Sonny’s Diamonds Jewelry in 2011.
“Some people took it too literally when I thought it was clearly tongue-and-cheek,” Nedler said. “You don’t know until you try.”
Sonny’s is having a clearance sale through Saturday to liquidate its entire inventory.
Nedler and his wife are hoping to move to France in the next few years, but he and Allen have kicked around a few business ideas that the two may or may not try out.
“Ultimately what it comes down to, I’ve been doing this 40 years, and I want to retire,” Nedler said. “I’ve accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. I’m proud of it but I’m just ready for something else.”
Kristen Leigh Painter: 303-954-1638, kpainter@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kristenpainter
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