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Hayman Jewelry Co. Sees Sparkle In Downtown

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

When the downtown shops started to flee, one by one, during the giddy prosperity of the 1950s, leaving for those newly constructed gems called shopping centers on the south side of town, the Hayman Jewelry Co. stayed put.

It didn't move in the 1960s or the 1980s. Not now, when places such as Sam's Club carry costly diamonds alongside the bulk paper towels.

Hayman's, which has moved five times within a five-block perimeter, is still downtown, now on Madison Street.

The family's best customers know the location and might not come with them if the shop moved, Alison Hayman Thornton says. S.L. Hayman said the same thing in the 1950s.

BayLife, Page 1

•The Hayman family has been in the jewelry business since the 1930s, when S.L. Hayman began by selling watches from his car during the Depression. His son, Dan, came aboard at age 20, and he's still there at 61.

•Dan Hayman's daughter, Alison, signed on in 1997 and became a certified gemologist. Her husband, Deron, works there, too.

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