Westfield Jewelers hosts Grand Re-Opening celebration
When it comes to local success stories, Josh Westerman and Darbie O’Donnell-Westerman are two prime examples of the entrepreneurial spirit.
At just 27 and 28 years old, these two Pahrump Valley High graduates have already purchased, built-up and sold one business and are now on to their next venture, Westfield Jewelers, which recently celebrated its grand re-opening.
“The grand re-opening was actually amazing, I wasn’t expecting it to go as well as it did,” Westerman enthused afterward. “Even though it was pouring rain outside, I want to say there were somewhere between 30 and 40 people here and that’s one of the awesome things about this community, they’ve really showed us support.”
The husband and wife team purchased what was formerly Marty Greenfield Jewelers last year but the partnership between them and Greenfield goes back much farther than this.
“When Darbie and I owned Quality Signs, Marty was a good customer of ours, we ended up doing all kinds of things for him, banners, business cards, flyers, we even did his windows. Through that, Marty and I really built a great relationship,” Westerman told the Pahrump Valley Times.
He said it was just a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit that Greenfield mentioned his desire to eventually sell the jewelry store and retire. This was to prove the ignition point for a complete change of direction in Westerman and O’Donnell-Westerman’s lives.
“I told him that I thought that would be sad, because he’s done a lot for the community and the town would definitely miss him. That was when he asked if I would have any interest in taking the business over,” Westerman recalled.
While many others would hesitate to take a risk in a brand new industry, particularly with a growing business already in hand, Westerman ultimately decided to jump on board. Greenfield arranged for him to have a trial run of sorts, to ensure it would be a good fit but it didn’t take long for Westerman to make his final decision. He started out in September 2020 as Greenfield’s business partner and is now the new owner.
“Darbie and I sold Quality Signs in 2022 and I’ve been here full time since that,” Westerman said. “Then Marty retired this past August and that’s when we officially bought the business!”
Westerman said it’s been a fairly seamless transition, due to the years he spent working with Greenfield prior to his retirement, and business has been satisfyingly brisk.
“We do a little bit of everything. We do custom pieces, jewelry repair, special orders, cleanings, appraisals, we are a full-service jewelry store. We also work in coins, gold and silver, we do key fob batteries, garage door openers and we’re well-known for our $5 watch battery replacements,” Westerman detailed.
As to what advice he would offer to those who are looking to become entrepreneurs themselves, he said the key is not to wait for the perfect moment, because the perfect moment will rarely ever present itself.
“There is no, ‘One day I’ll do it,’ because one day will probably never come. If you want to do it, you just need to do it. There is no other way,” Westerman encouraged. “It was difficult for us with both Quality Signs and with the jewelry store, huge learning curves on both ends, but when these opportunities came, we jumped in. We had no idea what we were doing but we learned along the way and we kept going.”
Westfield Jewelers is located at 1360 Matthew Lane, next to Taco Bell. For more information call 702-281-4579.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
