Precious Mettle

Steven Goldfarb is a man on a mission. The 47-year-old president of Alvin Goldfarb Jewelers-and son of Alvin himself-wants to give you the best jewelry shopping experience you’ve ever had. But he’s not doing it just to please you. He’s doing it because he has to.

In the last decade, brick-and-mortar jewelers like Goldfarb have faced a steadily growing barrage of competition from online dealers like Blue Nile. And many of the small independents haven’t fared well. But thanks to Steven Goldfarb’s energy, enthusiasm and panache, Goldfarb is one local jeweler that has continued to prosper.

Nowhere is that prosperity more evident than inside Goldfarb’s gleaming, two-year-old downtown store located on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Union Street. Light pours into the soaring space through 30-foot, floor-to-ceiling windows; a hearth roars warmly; Kwiat diamonds, Breitling watches and Furrer-Jacot bridal rings sparkle within spotless cases. It’s a space that immediately puts you at ease. Which, of course, is step one in the purchasing process.

The internet, Goldfarb says, “has changed the business. It has sped us up. It has made us extremely price competitive. It used to be that you only had to compete with the guy down the street or in your city. You didn’t have to compete with the guy in another city or around the country or, theoretically, around the planet.”

But Goldfarb offers more than a competitive price. The company’s local history is lengthy: Before founding Goldfarb’s Bellevue store in 1980, Alvin Goldfarb worked for Friedlander’s Jewelers for 35 years. Alvin also pulled off the ultimate workplace coup-he married the boss’s daughter. Hence, Steven Goldfarb is a fifth-generation Seattle jeweler; his great-great-grandfather, Sam Friedlander, founded Friedlander & Sons in Seattle in 1913. Even in the modern marketplace, that legacy translates to a jeweler’s virtual gold: trust.

Goldfarb furthers that local bond with a stellar record of community service. The company has a tradition of supporting medical causes-including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association-and children’s charities such as Children’s Hospital, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and Treehouse.

The company’s commitment to community paid off in September 2007, when it effectively doubled the size of its business with the opening of the Seattle store. (The original Bellevue store, located adjacent to Bellevue Square, remains popular with residents east of Lake Washington.) And Steven Goldfarb calls his company’s flat growth in 2009 “a win in the current climate.”

Still, it’s apparent that Goldfarb Jewelers is doing everything it can to highlight the benefits of shopping for your jewelry in person as opposed to browsing the cold, impersonal shelves of web retailers.

“There is an experience to shopping that some people really enjoy,” Goldfarb says, adding that the internet has allowed his customers to educate themselves about products and prices much more than in the past, which translates into faster sales.

“Twenty years ago, I used to spend an average of nine hours with a guy shopping for an engagement ring before he made a purchase,” Goldfarb notes. That average has dropped to an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, Goldfarb Jewelers’ reputation continues to grow. In October 2008, Steven Goldfarb scored an inadvertent media jackpot when he designed an engagement ring for Jason Mesnick, the Kirkland resident who starred in The Bachelor on ABC. Mesnick’s proposal-and the ring that he designed with Goldfarb-were featured in People magazine.

While Mesnick’s engagement may have been unusual, his experience with Goldfarb highlights the secret to the jeweler’s success: attentive, personal service-as much as you like.

Related: The Egg Girl.