Creative Jewelers about to change hands

Mike Swanson

After 20 years providing creative jewels for thousands of locals and

tourists, Glen Peltz is hanging up his bead reamers, picking up a

paintbrush and scrapping business in favor of creating

two-dimensional art for a living.

Creative Jewelers has been run by the Peltz family since 1983.

While the Creative Jewelers name will stay the same, Peltz said he’s

had enough.

“I was never a great businessman.” Peltz said. “I’m surprised I

kept it going for this long. My mother and father left in ‘92, and I

guess they thought I’d have the sense to follow.”

The 52-year-old Peltz said his ambition now is to stay in Laguna

and try to make a living as an artist. He sold the business to David

Burton of Long Beach and plans to spend a majority of the year in the

canyon, painting away and hoping to show some of his art by summer,

2004.

Burton should be a welcome addition to the community, Peltz said,

and should make better money here than he did.

“He’s buying a reputable name that lots of people here respect,”

Peltz said, “and I’m assuming he’s a better businessman than me.”

Peltz said he’s been practically giving jewelry away to try to

clean out the store before Burton moves in, either on Saturday or

Sunday. Creative Jewelers will then close for a month and reopen in

July under the new ownership.

“Ever since Sept. 11, we’ve really been struggling,” Peltz said.

“We used to have four good months, four average months and four bad

months in a year, but the average months have become bad months and

the good months have turned average, and I just can’t survive on

that.”

Part of the agreement between Peltz and Burton is that Peltz can’t

sell jewelry within five miles of the store. Peltz said he expects

most of his jewelry to sell as a result of his going-out-of-business

sale, but will try to get rid of all the leftovers on EBay.

Buyers have until Saturday to pick up some of Peltz’s last few

pieces. Creative Jewelers is at 353 N. Coast Highway.