Member-only story
A Jewelry Store at Christmas
Still glittering after closing
This morning I got word that a longtime Bessemer, Alabama, institution is closing this Christmas Eve. Longtime institutions in Bessemer might not strike any chords within most of you because either you’ve never heard of Bessemer, or if you have, the most positive associations come from two famous eateries: The Bright Star and Bob Sykes Barbecue. Both are truly institutions, the “Star” having been in business since 1907 and still the oldest continuously-serving restaurant in Alabama.
Neither of these is the closing business, however, and that’s fortunate for my holiday, or any day, psyche.
The business that is shutting down after sixty-three years of operation is a small jewelry store on 19th Street North.
Loyle Seymour Jewelers.
Loyle Seymour, who started the shop, has been gone from us for longer than I can say. Actually, I don’t know the year he passed, but the store has been in good hands in his stead by virtue of his daughter Carol and her husband Larry Parsons.
I remember Loyle well: humble, courteous to a fault, even meek. Gracious. He came to our house often, but never exactly for a social call. My father was the manager for Standard Jewelry Co (Wholesale Only) in Birmingham, and Seymour Jewelry bought much…