Long-lived Las Vegas Tower of Jewels set to close its doors

When Jack Weinstein first opened the doors on Tower of Jewels, there was no Bellagio or Wynn, The Rat Pack still ruled the entertainment in town and the mob still ran the casinos.

After more than 52 years, the 89-year-old Weinstein plans to close those doors for good.

“I’m almost 90,” Weinstein said. “I figure I can retire, or I die here. I’m going to miss Tower of Jewels. I’ve never been bored with it and I’ve never felt overworked, but it’s time.”

Four of Weinstein’s six children work at the store, but he isn’t passing the store along to them. He plans to sell it but not the name. If his children want to open a new store with that name, he’s fine with that.

“My kids grew up in the business,” Weinstein said. “They’ll do OK whatever they decide to do.”

Polly Weinstein, Jack’s youngest daughter, remembers growing up in the store at 896 E. Sahara Ave., doing cartwheels between the showcases. She’s been in the industry so long that she can untangle chains with her eyes closed, but it isn’t the work of the business that concerns her: It’s the changing times.

“We’re not sure what we’re doing after the store closes,” said Polly. “The jewelry business is changing. The industry is changing. We all know that whatever we do next can’t look quite like this.”

Weinstein has been in the jewelry business since he was 13, working with his brothers in Detroit. He struck out on his own and moved to Los Angeles in 1963 and was in the wholesale watch business. When one of his customers in Las Vegas decided to retire, he asked Weinstein to become the customer’s son’s partner in the Tower of Jewels. He did, but it quickly became apparent that Weinstein’s partner wasn’t actually interested in the business, so he bought him out.

The original store was on Fremont Street, but Weinstein soon moved the operation to Commercial Center. At the time of the move, Weinstein said that the street wasn’t even paved yet, but the location paid off.

“We had a little store, and we kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger until we couldn’t get any more space, so we bought this building,” Weinstein said. “It was a good move.”

He renovated, creating a 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing and design center that also functioned as the company’s showcase and sales space. Weinstein and his team cut gems and manufactured jewelry that was sold to nearly 200 stores across the country — or did until that part of the operation was closed in preparation of the closure of the rest of the business.

“We’ve been manufacturers forever,” Weinstein said. “We’ve never bought goods from someone else. Everything we sell, we manufacture; consequently, it costs less. We hold two patents, one on a round stone and one on a square stone. A normal cut is 52 facets, but ours have 105 facets. It’s twice as bright as a regular stone.”

Weinstein doesn’t think of the people who come into his store as customers.

“They’re clients,” he said.

Over the years, some of the city’s most powerful people and celebrities from around the world have shopped at Tower of Jewels, but that’s a subject he doesn’t talk about. He doesn’t drop names or even hints about who his clients have been other than noting that they’ve sold to “a lot of distinguished clients.”

“It’s an industry built on trust, and confidentiality is part of that trust,” Polly said. “We don’t have pictures all over the wall of celebrities like some other jewelers do.”

Weinstein is a knight of the Order of Malta, having been knighted because of his charitable works. He doesn’t make a big deal about the knighthood or the charity. He and his wife still live in the central valley.

“They live downtown,” Polly said. “They always have. They’re humble people. He doesn’t do this for the money or the glory. He does it because he likes to make people happy and to serve people.”

He has no big retirement plans. He doesn’t have a cruise or the purchase of a vacation home planned.

“Earlier in his career, before dealers came to him, he would go to them,” Polly said. “He’s been to India; he’s been to Hong Kong; he’s been to Israel. He’s been all over the world, so he kind of got the travel out of him.”

She said that the store will remain open through Christmas as they have their closeout sale, and then they’ll reassess and see if it’s time to close it down and sell off the remaining inventory and the building.

“We’re taking the time to honor my dad and make sure he has a nice, healthy retirement,” Polly said. “He could live to be 100 years old. He’s sharp. He loves to work. He likes to help people. I heard him say yesterday that he might be interested in working with a children’s charity.

The building comes with a bit of Las Vegas history. For many years, it was Bertha’s — a popular home furnishing store that also had a jewelry section. On July 4, 1981, Tony “The Ant” Spilotro’s Hole in the Wall Gang used the sound of fireworks to cover the sound of them breaking through the ceiling of Bertha’s to rob the jewelry from the vault. An inside man had tipped off the authorities, and as soon as they dropped into the building, they were swarmed by federal authorities. The arrest marked the end of a five-year burglary spree by the gang, which earned its name by breaking through walls to commit many of its crimes.

“They were caught before they could get into the vault,” Weinstein said. “That was long before we acquired the building, and out security is very good.”

For 50 years, Weinstein would come into Tower of Jewels at 7 or 8 a.m. and work until 6 p.m., but in the last year and a half, he started coming in at 11 or noon. With the sale going on, he’s felt the need to come in a few hours earlier. There have been a lot of emotional clients coming in to see Weinstein and his family.

“A ot of people are coming in that I haven’t seen in a while,” Weinstein said. ”I get so many hugs and kisses from our lady clients now. They’re not clients; they’re friends.”

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.