Mary and Archie Harrell celebrated Archie’s 92nd birthday December 5, 2009. Mary and Archie Harrell celebrated 61 years of marriage this past summer, and on December 5, Archie turned 92. The couple started A.A. Harrell Jewelers in Five Points in 1954 and have worked there continously except for the last eight months; however, they are making plans to get back to work after the holidays.

Archie began working in the jewelry business right after high school at Friedman’s, but in 1942 he joined the Army for the next three–and–a–half years. With his store management background, the military made a medical records staff sergeant out of him and kept him in Camp McCall, North Carolina, for the duration of the war.

After the war, the Harrells returned to Fried- man’s in Atlanta’s Five Points.

In 1954 they moved back to Columbia where they opened the first A.A. Harrell Jewelers which was behind Economy Drugs, about where the bar in Yesterday’s is located today. They operated there for 28 years and moved to their present location at 729 Saluda Avenue in 1982.

Some of the Harrells customers are third–generation. The couple is successful because they are willing to change with the times but keep that personal relationship with their customers who obviously keep coming back.