Jim and Bill Hart, who bought Seyfried Jewelers in 1978 from Ralph Seyfried, are, somewhat reluctantly, going out of business in January. Reza Rahmani wants his building back. Jim says, “He wants to turn the back part into private dining for the Black Pearl [next door] and the front part into a women’s clothing boutique,” adding, a little sourly, “whatever that means.” (At press time it appeared that it would become a Life Is Good store.)
Patrice Luther, trying on replacement wedding rings, said she is the middle of five generations of Seyfried customers. “My grandmothers, Sarah DeLong and Martha McCarthy, used to bring me in here.” She, in turn, has bought all of her own granddaughters their birthstone necklaces there.
Bill Hart came to know the Seyfrieds when he was their Lennox china salesman–back then, the store also sold china and silver. “Seyfried used to give silver spoons to every Ann Arbor graduating senior girl,” he recalls–a small investment against a future of silver, china, and jewelry purchases
