GREENFIELD — After just shy of 98 years of business at 248 Main St., Cleary Jewelers will celebrate its last day there on Wednesday, Dec. 24, before relocating to the standalone building at the Home Depot plaza on the Mohawk Trail.
As longstanding customers made their way in to greet owner Kerry Semaski, her son John and her daughter Lauren on Tuesday, the jewelry store known for putting the “family” in family business waved goodbye to almost a century spent at its current location.
“The best way I can equate it is like you’re moving out of a family house,” Semaski said Tuesday, reflecting on her time operating the Main Street store. “One of the nicest moments was when we had a customer that had purchased a ring for his [girlfriend]. It was their anniversary, and he had purchased her new ring, and the ring came in and it coincided with when she needed a watch battery. He knew she was coming … and hid out back with roses and the new ring, and proposed to her in the middle of the store.”
Semaski’s decision to move came after settling a legal dispute involving MassDevelopment, the Franklin Community Co-op and The Community Builders in October.
The parties settled after a years-long conflict between the jewelry store and its landlord. MassDevelopment, which filed a complaint in court to evict Cleary Jewelers in August, acquired the former Wilson’s Department Store in 2022 with plans to expand and relocate Green Fields Market into the building’s first floor, turning the upper floors into 65 mixed-income rental apartments.
Amid snowy weather Tuesday, Semaski greeted customers by name as they made their way inside, exchanging stories and asking about their lives. Although the store will live on in its new location at the Home Depot plaza, Semaski said she is as sentimental about closing out this chapter as she is excited to open a new one.
Having purchased the store in 2004, while she was still pregnant with Lauren and her son John was only 6 months old, Semaski reflected on the time she spent watching her children grow up and eventually work at the store.
“One of my favorite memories of them was when they would come in during the summer and spend time [in the basement], and they would go treasure hunting downstairs,” Semaski said. “One of the things that they came up with was a typewriter and they had no idea what it was. They were playing with it and having a great little time in typing on it.”
John Semaski, who was working behind the counter on Tuesday, explained that at a young age, his mother put him to work polishing and cleaning jewelry, before he later learned to change watch batteries, and eventually, sell jewelry.
“People always ask us how we stayed around for so long,” John Semaski said, motioning to his mother chatting with a regular customer. “This store is like family for people. We care about our customers.”
This sentiment was echoed by the store’s loyal customers, such as Greenfield resident Linda Billiel, who has shopped at Cleary Jewelers for 30 years. Billiel said she would miss the downtown location, but noted that the business could benefit from increased surrounding parking.
Greenfield resident Eileen Deveney said she has been shopping at Cleary Jewelers since the 1950s. Her engagement ring was purchased at the store years ago and she has enjoyed the familial warmth with which she and other customers are greeted when they enter the store.
“I’m so happy it’s staying in Greenfield. I’m so happy that it’s here. It would have been a very big loss to the community and it’s been a long, long haul for them. They’ve been through a lot trying to keep the business thriving,” Deveney said. “I’ve known this young lady (Semaski) for years. It’s like family, we’re like a family — I think that that’s what’s so special. That’s what it is, you come in and you feel like you’re at home. You don’t feel like you’re in a business.”
Semaski said she must be fully moved out of the Main Street location by Jan. 11 and she plans to complete the move in February or March.
