For over 100 years and through five unrelated owners Dunbar Jewelers has upheld the tradition of quality merchandise and professional, friendly service. The store began in the dirt streets and wooden sidewalks of Yakima in the late 1800's as Owen Jones Jewelry and Stationary. George Dunbar bought into the business in 1908 and the name changed to Dunbar-Nelson Jewelers and Opticians. That same year the signature Seth Thomas street clock was installed on the sidewalk outside the store. The name was permanently changed to Dunbar Jewelers in 1931. Pat and Linda Gilmore purchased Dunbar Jewelers in 1978. Their son Matthew Gilmore joined Dunbar's in 2004 and is a fourth generation jeweler in his family.
Like changing owners, the jewelry store has had to change locations over the years. It spent many years in the Miller building at 205 East Yakima Avenue and was forced to move when the building was torn down in 1985. Dunbar's relocated across the street to 120 East Yakima Avenue in the Larson Building for 20 years. As the lease came to an end Pat and Linda looked to move to an updated location on the west side of town. The building at 4100 Summitview was chosen as the most suitable for the new store and opened there in January of 2006. Through all of the moves the street clock has moved also and continues to mark time outside the store today.
After over a century of existence in an ever changing world the store looks with optimism toward the next hundred years of meeting our customers' jewelry requirements.
