After 78 years in Kansas City, this business is closing Thursday: ‘Tough to leave this’
Less than a year after World War II ended, Frank and Della Goodden founded Goodden Jewellers Inc. at 12th and Walnut streets in downtown Kansas City.
The shop, which specialized in the sale and repair of custom jewelry, bounced around downtown over the next several decades following its 1946 opening. It leased space at the Shukert Building at 1115 Grand, the Mason Building at 1110 Grand, the Dwight Building at 1004 Baltimoreand the Mark Twain Tower at 11th and Baltimore.
The Gooddens — and later their son Ricki and daughter-in-law Elizabeth, who took over the business in 1995 — lived through an era in which many downtown businesses fled to shopping malls in the suburbs. Not Goodden Jewellers.
“We’re proud to have been down here so long,” said Ricki Goodden. “We’ve always had a wonderful clientele. Never saw a real reason to leave.”
Till now. On Thursday, the Gooddens are closing their 78-year-old shop, which has been located at 1000 Grand Blvd since 2017. They’re retiring.
On Tuesday afternoon, the shop was still open, though movers were clearing the place out. Elizabeth was in a room in the back repairing a ring, an OptiVISOR headband magnifier covering her eyes and a mask over her mouth.
The space was cluttered with not only vintage jewelry and watches, but also fossils collected by Ricki on a farm in Gove County, Kansas, and artwork (one of their former locations was home to an art gallery).
“We’re trying to sell some of the display cases and cabinets, the chandelier, some work benches,” Ricki said. “We’ve got a few benches. That one over there, my dad probably made that in 1945.”
The Gooddens plan to take a few months off after they close, but they don’t expect to fully exit the jewelry business. They might continue to do business online — on Etsy, or maybe Instagram.
“We’re going to see what retirement is actually like,” Elizabeth said. “Some friends of mine, we’re going to start a women’s art collective — metalworking, fiber crafts, sculpting, painting. We’ll stay active.”
“It’s going to be tough to leave this,” Ricki said. “It makes me sad. But it was a good run. And we’re thinking of it like it’s a whole new chapter opening up.”
