38 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2026 They also remember spending time with family out- side the store, though the seemingly never-ending tasks involved in running a small business crept into home and family life from time to time. “Dad would sit at the card table and tag merchandise so he could be at home with the family but still get work done,” Elise says. “He would tally up the invoices, and he had an adding machine, and we liked to pull the crank up on the adding machine, because it was all manual.” COMING BACK AROUND “You can go to school anywhere you want, but you have to leave the state of Iowa.” Amy remembers being given this directive when she graduated from high school because their parents wanted their girls to experience something different. Amy attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, earning a degree in finance, and Elise earned a degree in accounting from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, later becoming a certified public accountant. Following graduation, they both took jobs in their respective fields, while back at home Greenberg’s began to evolve. In the 1970s, the first regional mall in Sioux City, Iowa, opened, and Greenberg’s was the only local jeweler to go into the mall, encouraged by members of the Leading Jewelers Guild (LJG), an organization the store is still involved with today. “Everybody [at LJG] was just encouraging my dad, because in California, there were so many malls. In Texas, there were so many malls. In Florida too, and people were just opening lots of multi- door stores,” Elise says. It was a successful move, and the developer asked if they wanted to see another available space in nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Elise recalls, “My dad said, ‘If we’re going to grow this business, and I think we can, it’s going to take all of us. Would you guys be interested?’” Amy and Elise willingly accepted his invitation and joined the family business around 1985. At the time his daughters joined, Ray was thinking about the fu- ture of the business, but like most dedicated retailers, he never left. “He never really retired. He ended up getting sick, but he would still come in and hang out and look at diamonds … He’d get this twinkle in his eye,” Elise says. Ray was a self-taught gemologist. He loved diamonds and sharing his knowledge with others, including Elise, whom he nicknamed ‘Eagle Eye One,’ and the store’s “My dad said, ‘If we’re going to grow this business, it’s going to take all of us. Would you guys be interested?’” –Elise Greenberg, Greenberg's Jewelers Continued on page 41 Greenberg’s Jewelers first mall store, which opened in 1980 AMY AND ELISE GREENBERG 2026 Inductees
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