Welander Jewelers celebrating 70th Anniversary

Published 12:00 p.m., December 14, 2009

Welander Jewelers and Optical was founded in 1939 by Oscar Welander, whose son, Jim, now owns and operates the store.  While the jewelry business has changed significantly over the years, the principles Welander instilled in his store remain true to form.

Welander was just 19 years old when he began an apprenticeship in Bagley, Minn., to learn to be a watch maker. Over a 10-year period beginning in 1929, Welander also became a diamond setter, an optrician and a musician. He’d also weld dental braces, repair musical instruments and work on phonographs, Jim said.

Welander and his mentor opened a Fergus Falls store at the completion of Welander’s apprenticeship, calling it Foss-Welander Jewelers. Welander started selling eyeglasses at the store in 1959, continuing until the early 1990s. Together with his wife Margaret, Welander went on to work in the store for the rest of his life.

“He was in the jewelry business for 75 years – pretty amazing,” Jim said.

Jim was working as a prospector in the western U.S. when the price of copper dropped following the Vietnam War. He moved back to Fergus Falls and began working with his father in 1972.  Jim took ownership of the store in 1990 and continued to work alongside his father until Welander’s death in 2004.

Jim says his father taught him the tools of the trade, as well as the importance of customer service. He takes on any number of jewelry repairs and modifications, and creates one-of-a-kind designs by request. He also collects discarded pieces from patrons – everything from earrings to broaches to rings.

“If they could talk they’d have a lot of stories,” he said.

Jim still uses the cash register his father bought used in 1926. The store has stayed at the same location since its founding, with the exception of when the building was rebuilt in the mid-1960s.

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