New name, new owners, same family

EPHRATA — The jewelry store voted Best of the Basin for 2022 and 2023 is back, but it might look a little different. 

Located in the same spot in Ephrata, 4 Basin St. NW, Harrison’s Jewelry Co. will have the same great service, quality jewelry, even jeweler as Harrison’s Diamonds and Designs, just under a new name and new ownership.

Kacy and Andrea Harrison are the third generation of Harrisons to own and run a jewelry store. Their family business started nearly three-quarters of a century ago by Kacy’s great-uncle, Johnny. Johnny was a military watchmaker who opened a store in the mid-1950s in Omak. In the early '80s, Johnny’s son Dean took over and worked alongside his cousin Chris, Kacy’s father, to make and sell jewelry. 

In 1989, Chris decided to open his own jewelry store in Ephrata and Dean continued the business in Omak until he retired about 10 years ago. The Ephrata store was originally located on Basin Street in the section of businesses where the Ephrata Athletic Club currently sits. In the early 2000s, Harrison’s moved across the street to their current location. 

In 2011 Kacy joined the family business after receiving his Jewelry Technician certificate from the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts and started working side by side with his dad.

After 35 years Kacy’s parents, Chris and Christine, decided it was time to leave the jewelry business and retire. During this time, Kacy and his wife had a decision to make - to open a new store of their own elsewhere or take over the current business.

“I was going to open a jewelry store regardless,” Kacy said. 

He said rather than running or opening a store elsewhere, he decided it would be best to give the current location a little bit of a facelift and make the space their own.

Kacy said their sales are pretty evenly divided between custom designs and stock they order from their distributors.

Andrea said their stock is completely hand picked, usually by her and other female employees.

When it comes to their custom work, they are usually upcycling a family heirloom, Kacy said.

“Usually it will be like grandma’s stones or grandma’s gold, or something like that,” he said. 

In those cases, he will put the old stone in a new setting or use the metal to create a new piece of jewelry to fit the wants and needs of the new wearer.

Kacy said the thing that stands them apart from other jewelry stores is that they have a jeweler in-house to do all the custom designs and repairs - they don’t send any jewelry off to anyone else to do work. That jeweler is Kacy himself. He said this means they can have jewelry back to its owners quicker and ensures jewelry does not end up in the wrong hands. 

“It doesn’t take you two weeks to get your ring back, you can get it back now,” he said.

He also said the knowledge and experience that he and his staff have also sets them apart from others in the industry. He has been a part of the jewelry business for nearly 15 years and another staff member for 20. 

“We have the same jeweler - I still think people don’t think we do the jewelry,” Kacy said.

“Yeah, a lot of people think he doesn’t do the jewelry,” Andrea said.

“Because I’ve been in the back for the last 15 years just fixing stuff,” Kacy added with a laugh.

He said that was why he and his dad worked so well together - Kacy was happy to work on jewelry in the back while his dad was a lot more customer-facing.

“I love doing jewelry work,” Kacy said. “I am so glad to be back to setting stones, and making rings and doing that stuff instead of remodeling.” 

Rebecca Pettingill is a freelance writer and photographer based in Ephrata.

Harrison’s Jewelry Co.
harrisonsdiamonds.com
509-754-4817
4 Basin St. NW
Ephrata, WA 98823
Tue-Fri: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Sat: 10a.m.-4 p.m.
Sun-Mon: Closed

Correction: The Harrison's name was misprinted in the caption of the first photo and the hours have been updated above.

    The interior of the store has been spruced up and is ready for visitors looking for special gifts.
  

    Generations of Ephrata-area lovebirds have bought engagement and wedding rings from the Harrison family.