Going out of business sale starts at Farr's Jewelry

Farr's Jewelry moved into its 17th Street store in 1999.

You might want to get the jump on Black Friday, because the race is on at Farr's Jewelry on 17th Street. Once a downtown anchor, Farr’s Jewelry, is going out of business after 55 years.

Vern Farr opened Farr’s Jewelry in downtown Ogden, Utah, in 1956. The Idaho Falls store opened four years later, at 369 Shoup Avenue, across the street from what used to be Ada’s Café (now Krung Thep, a Thai restaurant). In 1976, owner Boyd Wecker, a friend of Vern Farr’s, moved the store to the corner of Shoup and B Street and ten years after that it moved to the Grand Teton Mall on 17th Street. The store had expanded from jewelry to electronics and gifts, dropping small appliances, and focusing more on specialties.

Wecker retired from the business in 1992 and Vern Farr’s son Dirk (who’d come north from Utah) took over as owner, with the help of longtime employee Tom Stott, a company mainstay. In February 1999 Farr’s moved out of the mall and into its current location at 2026 East 17th Street. Building ownership, more individualized hours, and easy access help keep prices down while Farr’s maintained its loyal customer base.

The economic downturn of 2008 didn’t really hit Farr’s until a year or two later. Things have come back since then, “but just not fast enough,” Dirk Farr said. Because of “changing family dynamics” he moved back to Utah in 2014 to take over the Ogden store, but will always cherish his 29 years in Idaho Falls. “We’ve had fantastic employees and customers,” he said.

He is hoping to have the store closed after Christmas, and encourages everyone to check out what deals are available. “I would rather have Idaho Falls benefit from the marked-down prices than try to sell it somewhere else,” he said.