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About every 20 years or so, the owners of Josephs Jewelers make a dramatic change in the business, whether it’s remodeling a current location or expanding to a new one.

But these past few years have been especially exciting, as Toby and John Joseph, brothers and fourth-generation owners, have built a new store in West Glen Town Center in West Des Moines and now are preparing to move their flagship downtown store to the new Davis Brown Tower.

Josephs’ current downtown location in the Equitable Building at Sixth Avenue and Locust Street has been in the center of activity since 1923. However, with Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Aviva USA leaving nearby buildings for new headquarters in a couple of years, retailers, including Younkers, shutting down and Josephs’ lease ending in April of this year, the owners felt it was time to reconsider their location.

“I started thinking we would be surrounded by a lot of empty buildings in a couple of years,” said Toby, the company president. “Maybe we better look at a better area with more traffic.”

“The central part of the city, Sixth and Locust, has really been the cornerstone of downtown for decades,” John, the vice president, added. “The four main buildings provide a lot of retail and office, and that focus had been disappearing for quite some time.”

Toby and John originally planned to renovate the downtown store a year after they moved into their new West Des Moines building. But in December 2005 – after they already had invested money in plans – the city of Des Moines told them it would have to install a fire escape through their store to comply with residential codes for the condominiums above. To top it off, a little more than a year later, a water pipe broke on the fourth floor, flooding their store.

“That was my father’s pride and joy, what he did in 1969 with the remodel and expansion of the store,” Toby said. “But once that fire escape went through, it got chopped up. It wasn’t the same.”

Meanwhile, the Davis Brown Tower offered four levels of office space, most of which is leased, and two levels of retail in an up-and-coming location nearer Western Gateway Park, Wellmark’s new headquarters and many downtown companies. Plus, it came with parking in the building – a convenience Josephs customers were demanding – and a more open layout.

“To be able to open up in a new area with greater visibility, greater access and greater convenience for the customer was really our key consideration as to what to do,” John said.

The Josephs have been granted an extension on their current lease while they wait for their new store, located directly across from the Hotel Fort Des Moines’ main entrance, to be completed. They were originally scheduled to move in May, but now expect to open around early July.

The showroom will be about the same size as Josephs’ current downtown store, but without the fire escape and columns, it will feel bigger, the owners said. The décor will be similar to its West Des Moines store, incorporating many Frank Lloyd Wright principles, such as an open layout enhanced by high ceilings and tall windows. Lounge chairs and refreshments will create a more comfortable setting, which the owners hope will attract a younger crowd that prefers shopping at West Glen instead of downtown.

Though other retailers have left downtown, Toby said leaving was never a consideration, even though Josephs’ West Glen store has attracted more patronage from downtown customers than the owners expected and brought in record sales.

“I have a loyalty to the city of Des Moines, and if nothing else, I would do it as almost a payback. I feel I owe it to the community,” said Toby, who has lived in Des Moines his entire life. “Then again, I don’t want to sound like I’m doing something that isn’t going to be profitable, because I know it will be.”

Plus, Toby and John have found a dichotomy among some Greater Des Moines shoppers – those who shop only in West Des Moines and those won’t shop west of 63rd Street. “We have a lot of loyal people downtown who want to do business downtown,” Toby said. “They’re very loyal to their companies downtown and want to keep them downtown and do business downtown.”

The Josephs have been through several changes since Solomon Joseph opened the first store in the Kirkwood Hotel in 1871. By the time the Great Depression hit, the family had five stores around Des Moines. Then three brothers died within nine months of one other. Toby and John’s grandfather bought out the three widows and refocused on one store in the Equitable Building downtown. Eventually, Josephs expanded again, first into Merle Hay Mall when the shopping center opened in 1959 (the store is no longer there) and then into Valley West Mall in 1991.

This willingness to change has continued throughout the history of one of the oldest family-owned businesses in Greater Des Moines. “You never want to be caught resting on your laurels, because someone will come up and grab you by the coattails,” John said.

Much of the Josephs’ current strategy is based on market research and talking with customers. Their keen eye on industry trends led them to develop their store in West Glen after they learned that mall traffic nationally was declining rapidly and “lifestyle centers” were catching on.

Once the downtown renovation is complete, the owners plan to redo the Valley West Mall store, after already replacing display cases and the carpet. Then they plan to focus on their stores’ day-to-day business operations.

“I don’t see much more to be done in the metro area for right now,” Toby said. “If you look at retailing, the retail per square foot, Des Moines is still a bit over-retailed. … It will take a little while for it to catch up.”

The next major renovation may come when Toby’s children take over. Tricia, 27, and Jake, 25, both work at Josephs stores, starting in entry-level positions and working up to management. John’s daughter Jennifer, 22, also works for the family business.

This long history of family ownership can be attributed to the company’s conservative business strategy, John said. “Our father and uncle lived through the Depression and always thought there was going to be another one,” he said, “So they ran the business conservatively, left cash in it, so it could be a viable alternative for the next generation. I guess because we were raised that way, we had the same philosophy.”