Main Street jeweler has longevity in his genes

Ten years ago, not long after I started writing this news column, I wrote a story about McKay Diamonds in downtown Salt Lake City turning 50.

The angle was that the jewelry store qualified as the ultimate Main Street survivor.

Ever since Bob and Frances McKay opened the doors in the summer of 1949, they had weathered downturns, upturns, construction, street closures, mall openings, mall closings and any and all would-be competitors.

It was a remarkable story of survival and success — and now it turns out it was mere preamble.

Because this month McKay Diamonds turned 60.

Which means the business just survived the 10 worst Main Street years yet.

While businesses have fled the downtown corridor the past decade like refugees — including two entire malls — McKay Diamonds hasn't so much as flinched.

Neither, for that matter, has Bob, who says, "I feel just as young as when I started."

For the record, Bob is 88. Every weekday he commutes to the store at 157 S. Main from his home in Millcreek, unlocks the door and turns on the lights, just as he's been doing for 60 straight years.

He arrives around 10:30 or 11:30 and leaves around 5:30 — the shortened, unstructured hours his only concession to the so-called golden years.

He and his wife, Fran, used to share shifts at the store, but back surgery has Fran at home now, where she doesn't have to stand as much but where she still does the books on the kitchen table.

The McKays don't have any other employees, which Bob says is one key factor in their longevity — very low overhead, excellent compatibility and no question about who's running the show (that would be Fran).

Another factor is the extensive personal relationships with their customers that Bob and Fran have built up over 60 years — the kind that causes couples who bought McKay Diamonds in the 1950s to send in their grandchildren to buy McKay Diamonds in the 2000s.

Yet another factor is the lunch factor.

In 60 years, Bob can count on one hand the number of times he's bought lunch.

Day in, day out, he brings the sack lunch Fran has packed for him.

If there's anything that still dazzles Bob after six decades in the jewelry business, it's his wife's lunches.

"She makes me such a variety, I never know what it's going to be. I look forward to it every day," he says. "I've got to hand it to her. I don't know how she does it."

Bob doesn't disagree that the past 10 years have been the doldrums on Main Street.

"The worst I've seen," he concurs, but only after being asked the question. He tends not to dwell on the negative. It's disruptive to the nerves. Nor does he attempt to influence policy by joining any of the downtown business alliances or associations.

"I stay out politics," he says, "and I don't go to any meetings."