ROB AND LINDA PANOWICZ
PANOWICZ JEWELERS
Our purpose is to help our friends commemorate their celebrations in life. We are family owned and operated. We have two full time goldsmiths on hand. Panowicz Jewelers is an AGS store, which means we subscribe to the highest code of ethical standards in the industry – we price our inventory fairly and we grade all of our gemstones accurately and very strictly. Through our membership, we are subject to review. We are one of two AGS stores in Olympia.
Years Downtown:
63
Little Known Fact:
Leslie Panowicz will be the third generation of Panowicz Jewelers.
Our Story:
My grandfather, Anton Panowicz, was originally from Nebraska. In the early 40s, he was in the Army and stationed at Fort Lewis. He and my grandmother, Madeline, were at Fort Lewis and lived with a family, Darcy and Goldy Cunningham (in Olympia) while he was stationed at Fort Lewis and again after the war. Darcy and Goldy Cunningham owned both a jewelry and furniture store on 4thAvenue in downtown Olympia.
Tony worked for the family after the war, learning the art of jewelry making and repair. Following the American Dream, in 1948, he opened his own jewelry store, the very first Panowicz Jewelers, named The Jewelbox, which was located where The Washington Center is now, on Washington Street between Legion Way and 5th Avenue. He started mostly with watch and jewelry repair. Shortly thereafter, he renamed the store Panowicz Jewelers.
This year, we are celebrating our 63rd birthday, we are the oldest jeweler in Olympia. Tony was the vice president of The Washington Center during its construction.
Rob Panowicz was the first president of the Olympia Downtown Association as it exists today. He was instrumental to bringing the first Main Street project to the revitalization effort of downtown in the mid-80s. Shortly after that, Olympia was named an All American City. The Main Street project was instrumental in creating the boardwalk from the Port to Percival Landing and the beautification of Capitol Way.
We do custom work, repairs and engraving. We are honored to carry many prestigious and award winning designers including Hearts on Fire, Roberto Coin, Simon G and Maevona (a relatively new Scottish designer). We carry watches, Pandora bead bracelets and much more. We are best known for our quality and customer service.
Please come in and meet us! We do complimentary cleaning and polishing of rings. We do watch batteries by donation – when you have your watch battery replaced, we ask for a donation and we donate the money to a cause.
What We Love About Olympia:
We love the community involvement. Olympia is such a vibrant eclectic community.
