54 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2026 Continued on page 57 looking for advice and education,” she says. Kloiber Jewelers also offers a level of service and personal attention that customers often cannot find at big-box or chain stores and definitely do not find online. Emily tells the story of a customer who came in one afternoon looking to buy a relatively inexpensive piece of jewelry for a photoshoot. Nothing in her budget seemed like it would make a big enough statement, so Kloiber Jewelers lent her a piece to wear for the afternoon. “The little things mean a lot to the customers,” Emily says. ADOPTING ANOTHER FAMILY’S BUSINESS Like Kloiber Jewelers, Van Horne Jewelers in Granger, Indiana, is no longer in the hands of the founding family. In fact, a person with the last name of Van Horne hasn’t owned the store since the 1960s when founder Ralph Van Horne sold it to one of his employees, Madison Knight Sr. Knight Sr. passed the store down to his son, Madison Knight Jr., who ran the business until earlier this year when he quietly sold it to another independent jeweler in Indiana, James Ball. James is the owner of Peter Franklin Jewelers, a jewelry store in New Haven, Indi- ana, that he and his brother, the late Peter Franklin Ball, took over and renamed in 1988. There are now four Peter Franklin Jewelers locations, all in northeast Indiana. James’ son Karsten Ball, a director at the West Jefferson store, says the Van Horne Jewel- ers acquisition made sense for Peter Franklin Jewelers’ growth plan. Van Horne Jewelers is farther north and more central than Peter Franklin’s Indiana stores, in a good market with a healthy economy. Notre Dame University is right there, as are Holy Cross College and Saint Mary’s College, and Chicago is less than two hours away. The two retailers have a similar customer base and took the same approach to lab-grown diamonds; they stock only lab-grown loose SPECIAL FEATURE Pictured above is an old advertisement for Van Horne Jewelers, which started as Van Horne & Co. Jewelers in downtown South Bend, Indiana, in 1926. In 2026, the owners of Peter Franklin Jewelers acquired Van Horne Jewelers in Granger, Indiana. They kept the store name and its staff, pictured below.
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