“Learning you family history is the key to unlocking who you are” -Unknown
Happy New Year everyone! We wanted to talk about some of the Ballard family history this week on the blog by going back to the early 20th century.
Long before we had our Fountain Valley showroom, and even before our Glendale showroom opened, up in the jewelry district of Downtown Los Angeles Ballard & Ballard was a wholesale jewelry supplier that other jewelry showrooms could order from.
During this time period we would often send out different product catalogs that showcased different wholesale products other showrooms can order. Recently, while cleaning out his garage Glenn found one of the old catalogs!
Showcasing different ring aspects such as bands, stones, and additional elements this catalog could be shown to a customer in any jewelry showroom across the country. If a customer found something they liked the store could send out for an order of that piece. This allowed for stunning rings made right in the heart of LA.
All pieces ordered via these catalogs were made in house & shipped to their respective destinations
It was also during this time that when a Ballard needed gold to melt down into any type of jewelry they could simply leave their office & walk across the street to any bank where they could trade in cash for solid gold coins. In today’s world Guy & Glenn need to order gold from a gold refiner when in need.
This type of trade carried on for decades until the 1970’s when Daryl Ballard offered other stores the chance for their employees to special order pieces for themselves at discounted prices.
This carried throughout the 70’s as Ballard & Ballard slowly transitioned away from wholesale & entirely into the retail space. Since the late 70’s & Early 80’s we have been a strong family owned & operated retail space for our customers across southern california.
As new years begin it’s good to understand your roots & where you come from to understand where you’re going in the future. Family roots hold great stories.