After 84 years of helping Washingtonians find just the right watch or the perfect engagement ring, Bensons Jewelers closed its doors on F Street NW for good Friday.
Owner Ken Stein said his business never recovered from the pandemic.
Stein started working at Bensons at just 22 years old and eventually took over the business, which has been a presence in the 1300 block of F Street NW since 1939.
Bensons, like downtown D.C. itself, has been through a lot. Stein said last October his bookkeeping told him it was time to close the door.
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“If they are coming in, they come in looking or inexpensive watch batteries and repairs, and you can’t pay rent on that,” Stein said.
Stein points to the absence of federal and other office workers, many of whom are now in hybrid work-from-home situations and going downtown far less often.
“I could go weeks without customers coming into the store, and that’s just not good,” he said. “You can’t run a jewelry store like that.”
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The ground-level storefronts in the neighborhood tell the story. Many are empty. A half-dozen businesses in just one block of F Street have closed since the pandemic began in 2020.
Now D.C. is joining other major U.S. cities in eyeing new ways to bring people back downtown. Among them: turning partly empty office buildings into more flexible and popular mixed-use residential buildings.
Golden Triangle Business Improvement District Director Leona Agouridis, located a few blocks away from F Street, says survival means adapting.
“We are seeing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays those are our busiest days,” she said. “We’re seeing about 45-50% of the workers back.”
