The Final Days of Shannon Jewelry: 2018
Shannon Jewelry served the community of Mountain Grove, Missouri, for 65 years and closed for good on October, 1, 2018. The closing added to the departure of local, family-owned businesses in Mountain Grove’s Town Square, since the advent of the big-box stores out near the interstate.
Two weeks after the death of his father, James Shannon, 61, closed the doors of Shannon Jewelry. The family business was opened by James's parents, John and Lois, in Mountain Grove, Missouri, in 1953. For decades, Shannon Jewelry was the only place for miles around to buy a class ring, a wedding or engagement ring, to have a clock repaired, or to order a gold-engraved Bible.
James, an only child, grew up in the family store that was the center of their lives. Since age 12, he fixed anything that ticked. His father John was known for his fine craftsmanship and loved to work on jewelry. It was not strange for his mother, Lois, to cook food on a stove in the back of the shop to serve it to the family in the store.
The Jewelry store’s unique place in the community’s rituals built them a loyal following over the years. In the store’s final days, customers stopped by to pick up items that had been repaired (some for years even) and to offer their condolences. “You’re a dying breed,” said Faith Lane, a customer from nearby Cabool, Missouri, who was bringing a clock in for repair and was shocked to learn of John’s death, and the store’s closure. “You can’t find places like this anymore.”
In the days of the store’s closing, James Shannon, who grew up in the family business, experiences conflicting emotions. James worked at a desk aside his father, who would work on jewelry while James worked on clocks. James plans to continue to repair clocks from his home, and drives a school bus part-time.. He hopes to retire in a year or two.
Mountain Grove residents pick over the last of the items for sale at Shannon Jewelry. Connie Mitchell stops by to see if there are any necklaces for sale.
James’s daughter Tonya receives a hug from a member of the community who has come to bid the store farewell
When items were brought in to be repaired, they were tagged, logged in a notebook, and placed on shelves for review. Grandfather and cuckoo clocks surrounded the walls. Smaller jobs included replacing watch batteries, or fixing a ring setting.“One of the strangest things we ever did, was remove the gold fillings from a couple of teeth,” says James. Many of the remaining items at the store’s closing were items that had been repaired years ago and never retrieved.
Family friends help dismantle the store’s infrastructure, including all of the cabinets except one, which James will take home to showcase his father’s military flag. James and his family live in his parents’ house; his father died the week before.
Jame’s mother’s denture brushes hang in the bathroom, a reminder that the shop was the true family home. All meals were eaten at a table behind the service counter, and a play pen served as a crib for James, and then his children.
James’s wife Linda Shannon, left, uncovers a forgotten box of his mother’s beloved owl collection in one of the wall cabinets.
James supervises the removal of the store cabinets.
James’s daughter Tonya has taken a semester off from school to help her parents clean out the family store. “My whole life is in this building,” she says. “I thought it’d always be here. Grandma would cook meals on the stove in the back and we’d eat together and customers would come in and say, ‘Oh that smells so good.’”
65 years of dust and memories are revealed after the cabinets are removed. The floors will be vacuumed in the morning, in anticipation of the new building owners. James has heard that they are considering turning the space into a coffee shop and boutique.
John Shannon, James’s father, was known for his fine craftsmanship and attention to detail. “He had a heart of gold,” says James’s friend Carl Mortens.
A customer stops by to wish James good luck and to see if there are any clocks for sale. James walks him to the front of the store to say a final good-bye.