WATERLOO - Two longtime jewelry stores are preparing to close their doors for good, one of them after 93 years in business.

Newton's Jewelry Store, 128 E. Fourth St., and Day-Star Jewelry, Inc., 3641 Kimball Ave., are liquidating their inventories.

Newton's Jewelry Store has been in operation since 1914, founded by owner Sherryl Newton's grandfather. She is the third generation of the family to own the store, which made the decision to close difficult.

"But I figure if you're starting to ask yourself the question, 'is now the time to do it?' there's a reason you're starting to ask the question," Newton said.

Newton has owned the store since her mother's death in 1995, but has been working there full-time since she graduated from college and went through gemology training in 1978. She's closing the store to pursue other opportunities.

Newton said she's been offered jobs with a company that does jewelry store promotions, and a nationwide antiques appraiser to help with estate appraisals. Newton said she plans to pursue both.

Newton said the new jobs would allow her to travel and see the jewelry industry from a different perspective. She decided to close the store rather than sell because it's getting harder for small independent jewelry retailers to operate, especially with competition large stores that use jewelry as a loss leader to drive other sales.

"The general public is price-driven, and they like to see things on discount," Newton said. "So that makes it a little difficult when you're an independent that doesn't operate that way."

Newton said she may open a smaller shop down the road that will focus on estate jewelry and estate appraisals.

"I am not making any 100 percent plans until I deal with one thing at a time," she said.

At Day-Star Jewelry Inc., owner Jay Harmon has decided to close his business after 14 years because he's ready to retire.

Harmon bought the store in 1995, when it was just 9 months old.

"It's interesting, most people go out of business because of financial reasons," Harmon said. "We've actually grown every year I've owned it. This year, we were actually up 23 percent before we started the sale."

Harmon, 62, worked for John Deere for 32 years before buying the store. He said he bought the store so he could build a business with his friend, David Susong, and Susong's specialty was jewelry. Susong runs the store.

Harmon said he talked to some interested buyers for the store, but it made more sense to liquidate his inventory. He said a couple of people are interested in buying the store's assets, but he hasn't made a decision about that.

Both stores are deeply discounting their inventory. Newton's Jewelry Store is offering discounts from 20 percent to 70 percent off merchandise, although most is discounted at least 50 percent, Newton said. Day-Star discounts range from 30 percent to 70 percent, Harmon said.

Contact Jeff Wilford at (319) 291-1423 or jeff.wilford@wcfcourier.com.