Hayes Jewelers

Hayes Jewelers was established by Abram “Abe” (1907-1987) and Ruth Horowitz Hayes (1907-2014) at 263 Washington Street. Ruth grew up in Charleston, where she worked with her family at Horowitz Jewelers on King Street. In 1930, she married Abe, who worked for a furniture manufacturing firm in High Point, North Carolina. In 1941, Abe and Ruth moved to Walterboro and hired watchmaker E. G. Mayes to join their fledgling business. According to The Press and Standard over 2,000 people visited the store in its first week of operation in October 1941. Twenty years later, they moved to a larger location at 219 Washington Street, and ten years after that, Abe was listed in the newspaper as one of only eight registered jewelers in South Carolina. By that time, Abe and Ruth’s son, Louis Harris (1939-2024), had become the vice-president of the business and would soon become a registered member of the American Gem Society.

While Louis later became the store’s general manager, Abe continued working at Hayes Jewelers until the time of his death. In a 1982 interview he noted, “It does me good to see grandchildren of people we served when we first opened come into the store and talk with us. It’s a joy you know that you’ve had that kind of relationship with clients.”¹ After Abe’s death, Ruth continued to work as the credit manager there until retiring at age 96. She lived another ten years, dying at 106. In 2024, Louis retired and closed the store.

¹ Quote reprinted in “Merchant Abe Harris Dies,” Press and Standard, December 3, 1987, 1.