By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — The Silver Ribbon jewelry store, a mainstay in Westport for over 40 years, is closing. 

The store has been an emotional centerpiece in town over the years, marking life passages for many Westporters. There, they chose an engagement ring, a tiny bracelet for a new baby, a special anniversary or birthday gift, or graduation tribute to mark significant events in the lives of their families or friends. 

Silver Ribbon and its owner, Lida Ghiorzi, also played a role in both the arts and retail business in the region, featuring original jewelry designs, some by area designers. 

“I’m sad to see it go, and I’m sure the whole town is,” Matthew Mandell, executive director of the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce said of the store where he often chose gifts for his wife. “I love that store.” 

“Lida always had a very warm, honest manner about her,” said Jane Sachs, a customer from the time when the Silver Ribbon first opened. “She had a tremendous business.”

Now the longtime store owner is going to retire. Ghiorzi’s decision wasn’t the result of the pandemic or any other particular reason, she said. “It just seemed like a good idea now … It was just the right time.”

Ghiorzi briefly worked in radio and marketing before she started a gift business with money she had saved. When she decided to add a few pieces of jewelry to the merchandise on offer, she found those items were popular with customers. She opened her first jewelry shop on Main Street in 1974.

Being a woman in business – even the jewelry business – wasn’t easy in those days, she remembered. “When you went to a jewelry show, they wanted to know whose wife you were, and they wouldn’t sell you anything,” she said. But she persisted in a man’s world, and began searching for new designers, eventually specializing in pieces by American, Canadian and British designers in her store. 

A memorable motto: ‘If you don’t have fun, you don’t have to come back’

Silver Ribbon’s unusual, distinctive jewelry from all over the world is one reason the store was enduringly popular, customers said. 

“She had unique, individual pieces,” Sachs said. “She went all over to get them.”

Sachs especially remembers how caring Ghiorzi was about individual customers. The store owner sent a bouquet of flowers to the hospital when Sachs’s husband was sick, for example. “She had a very compassionate way in her business,” Sachs said.

Ghiorzi also was the president of the Downtown Merchants Association in Westport during the years her shop was in three different locations on Main Street. 

But the parking situation was difficult there, she said, so she moved her shop to Playhouse Square – her favorite location – and then to its current location at 1240 Post Road East. 

Westport has definitely changed over the years, especially in the downtown area along Main Street and Post Road, the storeowner said. But she believes that many of the changes are for the better. “Westport is still a good place to live and do business,” she said.

Silver Ribbon is running a Going Out of Business sale, and big yellow-and-red sale signs dot the small store. 

Ghiorzi hired an outside firm to run the sale, offering up to 70 percent off on her stock. The sale will run until most of the items are sold. 

“But it’s not going to be forever,” Ghiorzi said, adding that she’s ready to retire, at least for now. “Once you make the decision, you just want to relax,” she said. “It’s a little sad, but I’m still standing.” 

If there is anything she would like Westporters to remember about her and the Silver Ribbon, it’s the motto of the store for over 40 years: “If you don’t have fun, you don’t have to come back.” 

Both Ghiorzi and her customers clearly had plenty of fun.

For more information about the Silver Ribbon, and its Going Out of Business sale, click here or call 203-226-9320.