Mason Jewelers open for business

Thursday, December 9, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- After its second floor collapsed into its first floor sometime between 3:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 8:30 a.m. the next day, a Greencastle business is back up and running.

Mason Jewelers, located at 18 W. Washington Street, was closed for about a week and a half following the incident. Steve Mason, who co-owns the store with his brother Scott Mason, said a structural engineer inspected the building on Monday.

"We're still waiting for the report," Mason said. "He didn't really tell me anything."

Mason said he was told that the collapse happened as a result of an abrupt 6-12-inch shift in an outside wall.

"That allowed for the floor to collapse," he said.

No one was in the building when the incident happened, and no injuries were reported as a result of it.

Mason walked into the store on Black Friday to make the grim discovery.

"Obviously I was very chagrined," he said.

Although nothing has been decided for sure, Mason said he is not hopeful that he and his brother will be able to stay in their current location.

"I don't have anything definite, but I can't imagine the building is savable," he said with a sigh. "We're sitting in limbo until we know something for sure.

Mason said the space the store occupies is rented.

"Our landlord has been kind enough to let us sign a 90-day lease, and then we'll go month-to-month from there," he said. "That's what's allowing us to operate while we're in limbo ... we don't really like having to do things that way, but until we know what's going to happen with the insurance we don't really have much of a choice."

Mason estimated the business lost about 10 percent of its merchandise in the collapse -- which translates to somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000.

Those numbers could escalate, however -- there are still unaccounted for items that are "sitting under hundreds of pounds of rubble," Mason said.

A large portion of the loss will be jewelry cases. There were eight of them in the store, Mason said, all worth between $1,500 and $2,000. Mason said he didn't know yet how many of the cases survived the collapse.

Most of the jewelry in the store was recovered. The Masons were able to get into most of the cases and pull pieces from the drawers, and the safe where roughly 60 percent of the store's inventory was kept while the store was closed was intact after the collapse.

"Most of the merchandise we lost was form the watchband and earring displays," Mason said.

This is not the first time the Masons have experienced disaster related to their store -- fires in adjoining buildings in 1988 and then about five years later caused extensive smoke and water damage.

"In both those cases we didn't have fires, but we did have floods," Mason said.

Steve and Scott Mason's father, Harold Mason, opened Mason Jewelers in 1957. The store has been at its current location since the early 1960s.

Should Mason Jewelers have to relocate, Mason said he and his brother would like to stay downtown.

"We've had a presence (in downtown Greencastle) since 1957, and I'd like to continue that," he said.

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  • Glad to see No one was Hurt and Steve is Back up in Business. The new store front is MUCH Nicer. I hope things work out for Him there and he fixed my watch in excellent time given the circumstance. He is a Good Business Man and a Community Fixture. Somethings happen for a Reason.

    Good Luck to you Steve

    -- Posted by Afghan Contractor on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 11:18 AM
  • I may have read something wrong in the this original report, because I'm confused about this paradox - They are "up and running," but the owner says he "can't imagine the building is savable." What? are they back in business selling jewelry on a pile of rubble? Did they move to a new location? Hopefully an later online update will explain this and make my comment obsolete.

    -- Posted by Light in the Dark on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 1:35 PM
  • They moved into the building next door that was Creek Jewelers.

    -- Posted by Geologist on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 11:56 AM
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