Sprouts & Shutters: Barons Jewelers To Leave Bay Fair Center By Valentine's Day

If you plan to say "Valentine's Day" with precious metals or gems, it might pay to visit Barons Jewelry in Bay Fair Center.

On Feb. 14, the 46-year-old firm will close its San Leandro location in a long-planned consolidation. In the interim, the jewelry store will be holding a sale of up to 70 percent off on select items.

"We'd rather sell it than move it," Barons' owner Ronnie Heller told Patch.

San Leandro's loss will be Dublin's gain.

Heller said he will open a Barons Legacy Showcase in the Hacienda Shopping Center sometime in April.

The consolidation in Dublin will also affect the Barons Jewelry store in Pleasanton's Stoneridge Mall.

Heller said a few days before the Dublin store opens, he'll hold a closeout sale in Pleasanton store with the same intent -- sell it rather than move it.

At the end, Barons will have a single superstore in Dublin.

"This is something we've been planning for 13 years," Heller said.

Barons History

The company first opened in Bayfair Center in 1967. Heller said the two partners were Bart, his dad, and Ronnie Goodstein.

"They put the two names together and got Barons," he said.

In 1981, Bart Heller bought out Goodstein and made it a family business.

Current owner Ronnie Heller was born in 1964.

Ronnie Heller started working at Barons before he graduated San Leandro High in the Class of 1982.

Bart Heller ran the business until he passed away in 2001. Ronnie Heller said he bought the company from the estate two years later.

Ronnie Heller said shortly before his father died they had discussed the idea of creating a single superstore. But his passing and intervening events delayed those plans.

"That's the story in a nutshell with a lot of blood, sweat and tears in between," he said.

What precipitated the move at this precise time Heller didn't say.

But the choice of Dublin was easy.

"I grew up here in San Leandro but now I live out there and am part of that community," he said.

Do you remember shopping at Barons? For what? Do you see any wider significance in the move?
 

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