LeRoy Jewelers has held its spot on Broadway in downtown Tacoma since 1941, making it what the News Tribune called the longest-running store on the street.

Owners Steph Farber, 78, and Phyllis Harrison, 75, still craft custom jewelry at 940 Broadway, the same block where Farber's father Irving opened the shop 85 years ago.

The News Tribune profiled the couple in a story published Saturday, Sept. 5.

The store's origin traces to the late 1930s, when Irving Farber and partner Jack Slotnik sold watches and pendants to workers building Grand Coulee Dam in Coulee City.

When the dam work dried up, Irving moved home to Tacoma and launched LeRoy Jewelers.

The name came from the sign already on the building: it had room for five letters, and the family picked "LeRoy" to fit, according to the News Tribune.

Irving Farber died in 1965, the same year the Tacoma Mall opened, according to the store's history page. His wife Hazel, who had joined the business in 1942 and steered it toward colored gemstones and custom design, took over as sole owner. Hazel ran the store until she retired in 2004.

Steph Farber joined as jeweler and designer in 1973. He and Harrison met through the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, now Tacoma Arts Live. Farber sat on that organization's board for nearly 25 years, and the couple helped get the Pantages and Rialto theaters running.

When the Tacoma Mall drew retailers off Broadway in the mid-1960s, the Farbers stayed put. Vintage ads from that era still hang inside the store. One compares jewelry to food, insisting the good stuff isn't at the mall.

"People knew where to find us … It's never just been about the numbers," Farber told the News Tribune.

Custom pieces start around $1,500. Farber once carved wax jewelry models by hand. Now he designs pieces digitally and 3D-prints the models before creating a mold and pouring molten gold or silver. The store also handles jewelry repair.

Farber has won two Spectrum Awards from the American Gem Trade Association, according to Visit Pierce County.

The store was open six days a week before the COVID-19 pandemic. It now opens to the public on Saturdays and on Thursdays during the Broadway Farmers Market, which runs through Sept. 24 at 925 Broadway. Other days are by appointment only.

Farber said his daughter has no interest in taking over the business. A commercial real estate listing on LoopNet describes the 940 Broadway building as available for sale, though the News Tribune profile did not address the listing or any plans to close.

Harrison told the News Tribune the backlog alone could keep them busy for about six months. Farber, for his part, said he expects the store will end with him and Harrison. But if anything happened to him, he joked, Harrison would still bring him to the shop and prop him up so no one would notice.