Co-Owner Robby Hieser, Johanna Hieser, and Co-Owner Phil Hieser and Abbie Hieser
PEARL OF A BUSINESS
NEW OWNERS CONTINUE A TRADITION OF SUPERIOR SERVICE AT SMITH’S JEWELERS Writer / Julie Yates Photographer / Amy Payne
Smith’s Jewelers, located on the downtown Square on North 9th Street, is celebrating its 75th year in downtown Noblesville. Although it recently changed ownership, its tradition of outstanding customer service continues. The new owners, father-and-son team Phil and Robby Hieser, have many years of industry experience between them, and are committed to providing a seamless transition. In 1946 Claude Shane, a member of the family that founded Shane Co., bought several jewelry stores in Indiana. He named 14 / 2021 DIRECTORY AND RELOCATION GUIDE
each one Smith’s Jewelers, after a store he had purchased in Bedford. By 1970 he was ready to sell off his smaller stores, and O’Dell and Esther Lakes became the owners of the Noblesville shop. The Lakes owned Smith’s for nearly 50 years before O’Dell told Robby that he was retiring. “My dad, Phil, has worked in the industry for years,” Robby Hieser says. “When I was 19 and just out of high school, I got a job as a polisher. I thought it was just something temporary until I figured out what I would do, but after a year I fell in love with the job. Because I was so interested in it, I had a fast apprenticeship, and after two years I became a jeweler.”
