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SD: It’s an honor to meet you and I really appreciate your time for our interview today.Lowell Hays: Well thank you.
SD: Like most women, I love jewelry. I can only imagine being a jeweler would be a fascinating business for a lot of reasons. Everything you create is making someone extremely happy, was that a large part of the reward of being a jeweler for you?
Lowell Hays: Well, it was always a thrill, especially for engagement rings. The bride-to-be would usually come back the next day after getting the ring to get it sized. We’d get to meet her. We sold a lot of individual men an engagement ring. Usually what they did is go shopping together-he would get an idea of what she liked, find the ring she liked, then he would come back when she wasn’t with him. It would still be sort of a surprise for her.
SD: That does sound like an exciting part of the business. Did you enjoy the showroom? From pictures I seen on your original website it looked like a gorgeous place.
Lowell Hays: It was gorgeous place. I just got tired of it. I’m 67 years old and I’ve been in the business since I was 22.
SD: That is a long time.Lowell Hays: Yeah!
SD: While you were in the business it sounds like you enjoyed it, and I’m sure you were very busy. I read lots of interesting stories on your original website and one of the people I found fascinating was Charlie May Bell. For the 55 years she worked with first your father, then you, she was stringing pearls. I’m thinking she must have been pretty amazing at it?
Lowell Hays: I’m telling you she is an amazing lady. She worked for my parents when they had the stores. She’s a great lady! She was a great asset. She kind of took over as my Mom half the time. When my Mom passed away she decided she should raise me. Of course, I was 47 years old when my mother passed away, but Charlie May still decided that she should take on some of my mother’s role. I love her to death!
SD: She sure sounds like a nice lady. So you’re still friends with the people who worked with you in the business?
Lowell Hays: Yeah!
SD: You started the retail end of the business in 1971. Your Dad, Lowell Hays Sr., was mostly in the repair end of the business to start out with then went on to design jewelry for the Masons, and then on to design other jewelry pieces.
Lowell Hays: He was really a manufacturer-he had a shop, a factory. He made jewelry. He had jewelers who worked for him. He had three brothers who worked for him, and a few other men, and Charlie May worked for him, too. He made jewelry for jewelry stores all over the United States.SD: So it became a very large business?
Lowell Hays: His business was a really big business. Well, I never was interested in running a factory. I wanted to be in the retail jewelry business so in 1971 my Dad financed it and I went into the retail jewelry business. I was instantly successful, thank God, and I always have been. The store was always a success since the day it opened.
SD: You were one of the premiere jewelers in Memphis and your creations were worn by many people, the most famous of whom was Elvis Presley. Did you make jewelry for any other high profile people we might know?
Lowell Hays: I would say no-nobody else you would know. T.G. Shepherd was one. He’s a customer, and years ago I sold Isaac Hayes some pieces.
SD: Were you born and raised in Memphis?
Lowell Hays: I was.
SD: Do you have any other interests or hobbies you would like to share with our visitors? For example, you mention you build houses.
Lowell Hays: Well, I’ve always liked construction work. Somewhere along the way, about 10 years ago, I got into the construction business and built some houses on the Tennessee River. I ended up with a lakefront home up there and that is my favorite place. I have a beautiful home right on the Tennessee River and 100 miles east of Memphis and all my children can gather there and it’s fun. I have three sons and two daughters. One of my sons lives in Florida. We don’t see much of him-it’s just a long way away.
SD: Are any of your children interested in the jewelry business?Lowell Hays: No. They just never were really.
SD: Bet they like jewelry?
Lowell Hays: They like jewelry but they didn’t want to get into the business.
SD: I know, I like jewelry too, but it’s a different thing being in the business.
Lowell Hays: I worked for my Dad on the bench and was trained to manufacture jewelry so I was a diamond cutter and jewelry manufacturer myself before I went into the retail business. That’s where I learned that I didn’t want to manufacture jewelry. My father insisted that I learn how to make jewelry-he said I had to know how to make it before I could sell it. There was a lot of truth in that. I did that, and then in 1971 I went into the retail business.
