Hanford Insider: Hanford Jewelry and Loan, Kings Players, Babe Ruth Stars, High School Fall Sport Preview

Welcome To The Hanford Insider

SPEAKER_00 0:01

On this week's episode of The Hanford Insider, we hear from Kirsten Bookout of Hanford Jewelry and Loan. Rob will have some community news, and I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, August 10th.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Welcome to the Hanford Insider Podcast. From the people who make a difference to the businesses that have stood the test of time and the stories that make Kings County unique, you'll find it all right here. I'm your host Rob Bentley, bringing you the people, places, and stories that make our community a great place to call home. So let's get started.

Community Calendar And Marketplace Return

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Taking a look at this week's community calendar, after cancellations the last two weeks, the Thursday night marketplace is looking for a comeback this week with a predicted high of only 97 degrees.

Bicentennial Time Capsule At Carnegie Museum

SPEAKER_01 1:11

The Carnegie Museum of Kings County will be showing the contents of the 1976 City of Hanford Bicentennial Time Capsule this week. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, they'll be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, they'll be open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free, and the museum is located at 109 East 8th Street in downtown Hanford. Visitors will also get a chance to record messages to the Hanford Citizens of 2076 to be placed in the new time capsule. For more information about the exhibition, visit Carnegie Museum of Kingscounty.org.

Senior Wellness And Softball Celebration

SPEAKER_01 1:52

The City of Hanford will be holding a senior wellness workshop in the Civic Auditorium on Wednesday, August 12th, beginning at 10 30 AM. Visit the Brightminds Project.com for more information. Also in the Civic Auditorium on Wednesday at 6, the community is invited to join the Hanford West softball team as they celebrate the recent state championship. On Friday, August 14th, the Kings Players presentation of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opens. Here's a short clip with my conversation with the director of the play, Raylan Royer.

Kings Players Brings The Mousetrap

SPEAKER_01 2:29

How are you doing, Raylan? Good, how are you? I'm doing fantastic. We are in for another exciting show at the Kings Players. Can you tell us a little bit about the Mousetrap?

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Absolutely. It's um the longest-running murder mystery in the history of theater. It's been performed steadily since 1952, I believe, in England. It's kind of a rite of passage for anybody who gets into theater. They go and they see it. And we decided to kind of break away from our comedies that we usually do and give people a little bit of murder mystery.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

That's awesome. People love murder mystery. So I see you have some matinees coming up on August 16th, 23rd, 29th, and 30th. And then your evening performances are August 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, and 28th. And those performances begin at 7 p.m. Yeah. So what does the cast look like for the show?

SPEAKER_02 3:22

This cast is amazing. I really, really could not be happier with them. I, this is the first time I've directed a full play. So I was a little apprehensive about it. I'm I'm confident in acting, but not so much in directing. So it was a big challenge for me. And I could not have asked for a better cast. They are just wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

I think people are in for a real treat. That's great. And we're excited about opening night coming up here on August 14th. Once again, you can find out more information about the mousetrap at kingsplayers.org. Thanks for joining us, Raylan. Thank you so much.

Share Events And Subscribe To Updates

SPEAKER_01 3:57

If you have an event coming up, large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available.

Hanford Jewelry And Loan Turns 65

SPEAKER_01 4:30

And with me today, we have Kirsten Bookout. Welcome to the show, Kirsten.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Kirsten, I've been looking forward to this episode for so long. Um, being a historian, I've looked into the history of downtown Hanford. And this business has been a staple of downtown Hanford for 65 years. I understand that you just celebrated an anniversary.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Yes, June 15th. We celebrated 65 years in being in business.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

And even before that 65 years, uh, this business was in various locations in downtown and moved to the corner of 7th and Doughty Street. Um, it used to be an old donut store.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

It did, yeah. The building was originally built as a bank. And when the bank went out, Winchells moved in, but they did a lot of uh remodeling. So they kind of broke up that bank into different areas where people might remember Sandy's being part of the shop. And so they divided the building the best they could to make it available for Winchels. I believe Winchells was in first, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah, it it's it's seen a lot of different businesses. And I know that one of the great bonuses of getting an old bank is you actually have a vault in here. So it makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Yeah, there's actually two vaults. There's one in the basement, and then there's one um up top, and they're right on top of each other.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I actually heard a funny story when I was doing my research that one of the stories that the old Hanford show-offs used to tell is that there was somebody, you know, back in the early 1900s that tried to dig a tunnel underneath and they tried to get to the safe, but they actually ended up next door at a barber shop instead. So I don't know if that's true or any evidence of a tunnel down there, but uh don't try it, folks. Don't try it. Yeah, don't try it. Let's let's

A Watchmaker’s Path To Ownership

SPEAKER_01 6:14

get to it. So, how did you get into the jewelry business?

SPEAKER_03 6:18

So my husband's grandfather went to Bradley University in Illinois. He was a longtime Hanford resident, or I should say um Leighton resident, and then moved closer to Hanford into town when he figured out what he wanted to do. He knew what he didn't want to do and he didn't want to work on the farm that his family had. So he served two years in Korea, came back, and enrolled in watchmakers' school. And that took him to Bradley. He graduated, moved back, and I think if I remember correctly, he kind of popped into where he could to start building up his reputation as a watchmaker. And then in 1961, after having a few experiences with other jewelry store owners, he also had two other partners at one time. And I think that's where he drew the line and was ready to just venture off on his own. And he married uh my husband's grandmother, Carolyn. And I don't think they honeymoon. I think they they went to Reno, got their married, got married, came straight back to Hanford and opened the shop the next day or something like that. Yeah. Something wild. And they uh yeah, they were ever since 1961, the business started. He was at first just a jewelry store. And I really don't know how the pawn shop part got incorporated into the jewelry store. My husband probably would definitely know, but when he has small kids and you kind of divide and conquer, you're left with me. He did decide to open up a pawn shop. And he at first, when he did that, would do tools and electronics. I don't think jewelry was as popular, but he would do that as well and did the best he could with the pawn shop. So it kept going. And then there was another pawn shop that opened in town. And my and then I think that's when my my grandfather-in-law decided that it was time to just kind of just do one thing and focus just on one thing, and jewelry is what he decided to focus on. I think at that time I do remember him saying that people were starting not to pick up like their TVs or radios because the next best thing was out like in six months. And so a lot of people, and our loans are four months. So they're like, should I get my old radio out or should I just go out and buy a new one? And most of the time they just go out and buy a new one. So I think he was getting tired of that, those foreclosures building up and decided just to do jewelry.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yeah.

Buying Gold And Selling Pre-Owned Pieces

SPEAKER_01 8:55

So there's a lot of beautiful jewelry in this uh shop. And uh, as a matter of fact, just a few minutes ago, you had someone come by and um actually uh have some jewelry to look at. Is that something that you have that people can come in and yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

So a lot of people don't realize when you lose a gold earring or you break a chain and you decide I'm just gonna buy a new one, maybe something a little thicker because I didn't like how that one felt or looked or whatever, they just kind of put it in the back of the closet. So if you have broken pieces of gold or missing, you only have one set of something, yeah, that's something that you can bring in and sell to us. We do buy gold, gold only. Um, we don't do any silver. You can sell it to us and uh walk out with hand with cash in hand and have some mad money, so I call it. So people will bring various pieces in and they're like, I haven't had I've been sitting on this forever. I didn't know you bought. There's still people to this day that will come in and say, I didn't realize you buy jewelry. And yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

So they'll sell. That's a great tie-in. Uh, people see the jewelry shop, they see the logo. We talked about the the importance of the logo representing uh the jewelry uh industry for years on shops and such. But your square, I mean, if we're talking downtown Hanford, Hanford in general, you are in a fantastic location for people to be able to see what you have and and learn about the tradition of Hanford jewelry alone.

Life On Hanford’s Busiest Corner

SPEAKER_01 10:17

What's it like being right here at the corner of 7th and Dowdy Street?

SPEAKER_03 10:21

Fun. I that's one way to describe it. It's fun, it's interesting, sometimes entertaining, but um we have, well, Floyd used to always say, we got the best corner out of Hanford. And and it really is. We we do get a lot of foot traffic between the restaurants and uh the banks down here, you know. Everybody that go will go down to the bank, have lunch, and maybe walk into our shops.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

And the Pilates place across the street. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Uh-huh. They just moved in. And so we, yeah, we I love this corner. I couldn't imagine us being anywhere else where even when I do drive and I'll see another building up for lease or that's empty or vacant. And no, I see myself here forever.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

So in this location, you know, we won't talk about roundabout or anything like that. Uh go ahead and laugh. But I know there's a lot of improvements coming to downtown Hanford. And I can tell we we've talked about off the vine, we've talked about some of the businesses that have moved in, poor Richards. What is happening downtown that makes you so excited to be here?

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Well, the new restaurants that are coming in, I think that's definitely going to attract. I can't tell you how excited my husband was personally when he had heard that poor Richards was coming back because he was a um longtime patron of the restaurant, him and his family. So he was super excited. Between that and the restaurants, um, really the people that kind of just walk in here, we do still get that uh people getting dropped off at the Amtrak and they'll go to Superior Dairy, or let me back that up. They'll go to lunch, superior dairy, and then they'll have a few moments, a couple hours to kill. And so they'll walk around. And a lot of times they do come in here, and everybody has a story, and so I love it that they come in. And I'm not one that is scared to talk. I definitely will open up conversation at any time.

Friends Helping Build Community Culture

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Let's talk about community. Uh, we've talked about Hanford in in large, but let's talk about the community that you've built here with uh Hanford Jewelry and loan. You know, you have uh you and your husband, but you have a whole army of people that just love to step in and help out whenever, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

We do, we do. You know, we did we've had uh some employees here and there, but not all good things can last forever, right? So sometimes when somebody has to leave, it's just me and my husband. Well, now I've been able to talk to my husband into that. Hey, when you if we need help, I got a great I got a great amount of people that can step up and help us. We have a good um solid team that will help us for wine and chocolate. Couldn't do that without them. Uh everybody's Irish downtown. I they same team comes in and helps me. And now we're to the point that I don't even have to tell them what to do or how to act or you know what to look forward. Yeah, they already know. Yeah, they already know what to do. They already know how how to be one, and then they have the best customer service as well. So that's another great representation that I'm so proud that my friends can really show.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And one thing that you were able to do recently is uh be a sponsor of the Thursday Marketplace. How was that? That was so much fun.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

I thought it would be fitting since it was our 60 years we celebrated 65 years. I thought, why not? We were closed during the week that we celebrated our um 65th anniversary. We were in Omaha. My youngest son had a baseball tournament there. So I wanted to make up for lost time. And I thought, let's let's hit a farmers market. And that was so much fun. And again, I had some amazing friends that came down and helped in the heat. It might have been like a 99 degrees, but it felt like 109 degrees. And we had we had fun. We had a good time. They make they really if you surround yourself with good people, you're gonna have the best time no matter where you are.

Social Media That Sells Fast

SPEAKER_01 13:59

For sure. And I know that social media plays an important part of what you do. Have an active presence on Facebook and Instagram, you have a website. How has the response been there?

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Good, really good. I if I post something on Instagram or Facebook, I would say 85% of the time it sells. So I I'm so fortunate that I have free access to that platform to a to be able to advertise jewelry because I we still we still get people who don't, when they hear pawn shop, they don't think they don't see us. I think they see guitars hanging on the wall or tool sets in one corner. Um, so I'm glad that I'm able to have that platform and just show the beautiful jewelry that we do acquire. And we have new jewelry as well. So um I I'll put on there if it if it does sell, I can reorder this item. But most of the time it's our pre-owned jewelry that sells quicker. And it's just, and there's a lot more unique items when it comes from estate sales or or you know, just we get some really neat stuff. So I'm just fortunate I can I can put it on the platform and show people.

Proposals Heirlooms And Repair Comebacks

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I would imagine there's some pretty special stories. You've got to have maybe one or two stories that just stick out to you, something special that happened that you were just so happy for the customer. Uh yeah. Maybe one of those or two of those.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

Absolutely. Well, now that um technology has moved so fast for the I've been here for 20 years. So in the last 20 years, I've has I've had people send me their proposal videos, which I appreciate because the excitement that I get from the person who's getting ready to propose is one thing. But some I don't get to see the excitement on the other end of when the proposal does happen. So when I get those videos, it I just am so excited and it and makes me feel good because I feel like they took the time to share, you know, what we did together, part of this journey, and now it's the rings on her finger, and she's so happy and she's in tears. And I love that. I just absolutely love that. So that I see a lot of now. And um, we offer free cleaning when you buy jewelry from us. So I get the same people who have bought in their oh nice uh wedding sets from 20 years ago still come in with our kids now, yeah. And so that's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

But uh again, you you just brought up the a good point is that you see the tradition in family. So you have a family that Hanford Jewelry and loan becomes their go-to, and then their children say, Well, my dad went to Hanford Jewelry and loan. And it be it becomes a thing. My wife and I were just having this discussion a while back about businesses we go to because our parents went to it and it kind of became a became a thing. I bet you're a part of a lot of surprises too. Yeah, I know you've talked about engagements and stuff, but has there been a an occasion where someone's come in and just, oh, I really want to fix this up for my wife or our anniversary Christmas or something?

SPEAKER_03 16:54

Yes, they have. Whether if it's some type of upgrade or they found a piece, I had one person who found a great grandmother's ring, but it was so worn down. They really wanted to bring it back to life. Unfortunately, we don't do any jewelry repair here any longer, but I do have a resource that I use and he's amazing. And it came back brand new. Customer was in tears. He was gonna gift it to his wife. He was so excited. So just sometimes when people think there's an end, there really isn't. Like if if you if you can break it, we can fix it. Or if it gets worn down, we could definitely take care of it. And that's what's been great about being able to have my resource that I send my jewelry to to fix. So it's been really nice to have him on my team. He really does help me out. And I he's been able to do a lot for me. And a lot for my customers, I can't say. I'm just glad I have that person I can reach out

Why Local Beats Online For Jewelry

SPEAKER_03 17:46

to.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

What's something that you're looking forward to with the business? You know, you're entrepreneur, you're always trying to uh help the community, obviously, and and obviously you're in business. So, you know, a lot to take care of, bills to pay and such. But what do you see in the future for Hanford Jewelry and London? It's been 65 years. What uh what do you see the business doing in the next five or 10?

SPEAKER_03 18:07

I see myself helping people still here, whether it's helping you get out of a small financial bind by obtaining a collateral loan or helping people by finding the perfect engagement ring, the perfect anniversary present. I'm here to help and hopefully exceed someone's expectations and find that next beautiful piece of jewelry.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Obviously, there's online. People can order things online. And we find this uh when I was teaching music, we would find that people, oh, I'll just buy it online. It's it's cheaper. But as a uh a jewelry store, what can you offer that online stores can't?

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Reassurance that it's gonna look good. I will make sure it fits the way it needs to fit. If you buy it online, a lot of times you're you're guessing on, well, you might know your size, but some of these rings are made just a little different. So they may say it fits, it may you may be a size eight, but sometimes because the band's too wide, it's gonna feel it's gonna feel like it's a size seven because you didn't think about going just a little bit bigger on it. And you get me. You get me all the time because I'll I will make sure if you get a diamond that falls out, I'll take care of that. If you have a special event coming up, I'll make sure your jewelry is clean. If you can't make it into the shop, because we still we do close a little early, we call it still honoring COVID hours. If you can't make it into my shop, I will get your piece to you. I definitely want to cater to my customers

Store Hours And Customer Flexibility

SPEAKER_03 19:38

that come in.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

So you mentioned your hours. Uh, what what is your store hours and uh maybe a little bit more about the information website and such?

SPEAKER_03 19:45

And uh Yeah, we have we are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. However, I will meet customers because we do have customers who move away or job takes them somewhere and they don't come into Hanford as often. But I will meet people back at the shop after closing hours because I do understand that four o'clock may not be the best, the the ideal to for most people, for the most working customers that I have. So I will I'll come back. I'll open. Sometimes I'll come back on Saturday if I don't have anything going on with my kids. If there's no baseball, no racing, then I'll definitely come in and make it happen. So I definitely will cater to my customers' um schedule.

Collateral Loans Explained Without Shame

SPEAKER_01 20:26

So I understand you offer collateral loans as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

We do, uh, which a lot of people aren't aware that we do that. So you come in with your piece of jewelry and we ask you what would help. We'll assess the piece that you bring in and we'll negotiate what seems fair. You're definitely not going to get what you paid for. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Because if we did that, definitely would not come back to get the next model out, right? So you have four months to come and redeem your item. And if you can't redeem your item, you pay the interest fees and it renews your contract for another four months.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

You'd be really surprised how a lot of well, a lot of my customers, and I read an article on it too a few years back, that sometimes you just need that $200 to stretch you out for the end of the week until your next paycheck. And I feel like that's when we come in and can help help out. Just somebody needs a full tank of gas to get to work or an unexpected bill came up, or you're just short. Or sometimes people just mismanage money. I'm I'm guilty of that. And you just need that extra $100 or $200 to get you through the month until your next pay period. And so we get used a lot for that. I think we it's better than asking family for money. Most of the time, you just come in and do what you gotta do, and nobody nobody knows what you did and how you got that extra money. And you come in, you pick up your item, and I don't tell.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Yeah. Hey, Chris, this has been so wonderful. You're very enthusiastic about what you do, and you've surrounded yourself with good people who help you out and uh and make this business what it is. So thank you so much for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

And thank you for having me. Yeah. I really appreciate it.

Shop Local And Give Back

SPEAKER_03 22:07

And remember to shop local. If we continue to shop local, then I'm able to, you know, give back to Hamf uh to baseball teams or high schools, local organizations, because we like to give back as well. But we only can only do that if the you know Hanford community just keeps shopping local.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

For sure. Yeah. All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Well thank you. That was fun.

Sports Report And Fall Volleyball Preview

SPEAKER_03 22:30

And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

We'll start with an update from Branson, Missouri at the Bay Ruth World Series, where the Hanford Bay Ruth 16U team is two and one through their first three games in pool play. The Hanford All-Stars were able to bounce back after a nail biting opening round loss to Mexico with a 7-5 win over Europe on Saturday before taking down New Zealand 10-4 on Sunday. A Monday showdown with Kelso Washington awaits for the Hanford squad as they look to win their third game in a row and hope that a three and one record in pool play would be enough to advance. We'll have updates for you on next week's show to see if the Hanford Bay Bruce 16U All Stars can take it all the way. In high school sports most fall seasons get underway in the next few weeks and we talk a lot of football here on the Hanford Insider, but we love to shine a light on those other sports when we have information, so let's take a look at how the girls volleyball season is shaping up. The Hanford West girls volleyball team is coming off of a 2010 and three overall season last year that saw the Huskies finish second place in league with a central section playoff appearance. The Huskies will have to replace last year's Sequoia League MVP Paulina Stevens and first team selection Juliana Viensor, but reigning Sequoia League Defensive Player of the Year Jalen Valtira is returning to the Huskies roster for her senior year and reigning Coach of the Year Maria Stevens looks to have the Huskies pick up last year's success right where they left off. Non-league play for Hanford West starts on August 18th at Strathmore, and your first chance to catch the Huskies varsity squad at home is August 24th versus Tolerari Union. The Hanford High Girls volleyball team has been busy with open gyms this summer, looking to build off of last season's 18 and 13 campaign, resulting in a second place WIL finish and a central section playoff appearance. The summer workouts presumably aim to add some continuity after losing six seniors from last year's team to graduation. Defensively the Bullpups returned last year's leading blocker in Shelby Hare and defensive specialist Miranda Coons, while we will have to wait and see who will take the lead roles for the Bullpup offense. Hanford High starts their season on the road at the Redwood tournament August 21st and 22nd and if I'm reading the schedule correctly the Bullpups are on the road until late September. And the Sierra Pacific girls volleyball team will look to turn the page from a 2025 season that saw the Golden Bears finish 9 and 16 overall, fourth in league. Sierra Pacific will also look to replace six graduating seniors for this upcoming year, so expect to see some new faces step into larger roles. The Golden Bears really struggled away from home last year, only winning two of their 12 true road games so we'll see if Sierra Pacific can take the show on the road in 2026. We'll have our football preview on next week's show so make sure you tune in for that boys and girls water polo, girls tennis, cross country and golf are all fall sports that information is hard to come by so if you have a score report or a team update for any team in any sport at any level, you can let us know by emailing HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

Support The Show And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Well that wraps things up for this week's show. If you're enjoying the podcast and you want to support it you can head over to buymeacoffee.com forward slash HanfordInsider to make a donation. To stay connected join the Hanford Insider email list at HanfordInsider.com. You'll get weekly updates plus an exclusive newsletter delivered right to your inbox each Wednesday. I'd also really appreciate your help spreading the word about the show by liking and sharing on social media or like most people just telling a friend. Don't forget if you have a story idea community event or someone you think deserves to be featured I'd love to hear from you. Email me anytime at HanfordInsider at gmail.com You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X and YouTube at Hanford Insider for more content and updates. Thanks for listening. Have a great week