Longtime Humboldt Jewelry Store to Close as Owners Eye Retirement
After 63 years on Main Street Humboldt, the still-thriving Brasfield’s Jewelry will close its doors this summer. Owners Roger and Debbie Brasfield are looking forward to a much deserved retirement, and will cease physical, day to day operations at the store at the end of July. Debbie said, “We still have a GREAT business…but it’s just time for us.”
Brasfield continued, “There’s just something special about Humboldt. It’s the community…they care about each other, and they care about their businesses. Main Street, especially, has been a blessing for us. The fellow businesses have become true neighbors to us. Our customers are family. That’s what I’m going to miss more than anything – the sense of family that’s present in Humboldt. It’s a very special place and will always be our home.”
This staple of the community opened their first store in Humboldt in 1959. Roger’s parents Louis and Mary Brasfield – along with 2 week-old Roger – came to Humboldt from Memphis and bought a pre-existing jewelry store next door to the Humboldt Plaza. In 1962, they moved the operation to its current location. Even after the death of her husband in 1964, Mary continued operations and grew the store to one of the most well respected purveyors of fine jewelry in West Tennessee.
In 1983, Roger returned to Humboldt with his new wife Debbie and began working at the store with his mother. The couple then purchased the store in 1990 carrying on the phenomenal customer service that the elder Brasfield’s had long been known for. As Roger said when celebrating the store’s 40th Anniversary, “Nothing promotes a business better than knowing your customers and keeping them happy over the years.”
This closure is a bittersweet time for the Brasfields. Roger put pen to paper to explain how they feel, “After much thought, consideration and prayer, Debbie and I have decided to close the store and retire. We have been so blessed in our 39 years of owning and working at Brasfield’s Jewelry. The people of Humboldt and the surrounding area have been so good to us. In addition to providing us a means to provide for our family, we have made so many great friends. Words cannot express how much these friendships mean to us. From the bottom of our hearts – THANK YOU. Humboldt will always be our hometown.”
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