Johnny Del Prado helps Peter Vartovnik and his fiancee, Henrieta Borowiecka, with wedding bands at Del Prado Jewelers in downtown Las Vegas Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Del Prado closed his store on Christmas Eve after 30 years in business.
Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Johnny Del Prado is moving his Las Vegas jewelry business online.
Del Prado Jewelers closed the doors to its physical location on East Fremont Street last week, but the family’s more than 40-year history of doing business with locals is far from over, Del Prado stressed.
The store opened in 1975 at its original location in the Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue.
Needless to say it's been quite a ride — and one that’s called for a much-needed break. Time away from the shop will be spent with his wife, kids and grandkids, most of whom are in Las Vegas.
“Spending time with my family, that’s the most important thing to me,” Del Prado said Thursday afternoon in his empty store. “I hardly spend any time with my family. Not that I haven’t, but I would like to spend more.”
The shift to online sales was not spurred by the pandemic, Del Prado said, although the shop did close March-May 2020 due to COVID-19. He said that back then, customers slowly trickled back into the shop like they did other places as capacity restrictions loosened.
The items on his shelves — ornate necklaces, tall vases and intricate figurines — will soon be handled by his wife, who he said will post the objects for sale on sites like Craigslist or eBay. He’s confident sales will continue to be strong online, and more important, the change will eliminate those 10- to 12-hour days that began to take their toll on the 62-year-old. (Del Prado proudly says he’s “62 years young.”)
“I’ve been doing this for so long that I don’t need a brick-and-mortar store to do business,” he said. “The change in pace is something I’m looking forward to. … My wife is the one who has sacrificed because of my work schedule.”
He’s leaving behind plenty of memories — some, unfortunately better than the others.
In 2003, one of the store’s former employees murdered Del Prado’s grandmother and mother at the shop, which sits on the second floor of Neonopolis, just off the Fremont Street Experience entrance.
Avetis Archanian, the former employee, was convicted and sentenced to death and is now on death row. Del Prado’s mother was in the hospital for several months before the family chose to take her off life support, he said.
“My family has always been one that (says), ‘A life is a life for living,’ not for lying in a bed and staring up to a ceiling,” he said. “The whole thing was very, very difficult — not just on myself, but for my family.”
Eighteen years later, Del Prado said he hopes to settle into a quieter life. When speaking about the tragedy, he recalled the impact working in the jewelry industry had on his father, Juan Del Prado Jr., who initially ran the business starting when they operated in Commercial Center.
“We’ll make the best of it, and we’ll roll from there,” he said. "I’ve got a positive outlook.”
