Jim Kennedy (l.) with Lucinda Bean and customer Dottie Morton (r.)watches, diamonds, men’s and women’s jewelry, clocks, and plaques. Plus, there are the “personal touches” that always makes looking around Kennedy’s lots of fun – Jim’s golfing trophies and photos, pictures of his family and postcards of places around the world.
 “It was really important for me to stay on the hill with my new location,” says Kennedy. “My advertising, my stationery, it all says ‘on the hill’ in St. Johnsbury.” In fact, Kennedy has had three locations in St. Johnsbury over the past 20 years, all within about a half block of each other! He began in a storefront across Main Street for two years, and then moved to his next location, where he remained for 18 years. Now he’s just down the street and even his sign hasn’t changed. “I like that the sign looks like it’s been here for a long time,” says Kennedy. “I’m glad we could bring it over.”
Kennedy is a great supporter of the local community. Each year he helps raise money for the Kiwanis club through the organization’s annual auction as well as during the Super Bowl. Kennedy’s has sold tickets to all the plays held at St. Johnsbury Academy for many years.
Right after the fire, Kennedy was given 20 minutes to grab what was most important from the store. “I got the personal and customer stuff out right away,” he says. “Over the next five days, we got whatever was salvageable – basically, the inventory in the safe and some of my tools. That was it.”
Joel Schwartz, St. Johnsbury’s Economic Development Director, says that the site of the fire, which is now completely cleared, will be developed at some point in the future. “The property owners have received some interest in the site,” he says. “The town will help in whatever way we can with looking to outside sources for funding to make a deal happen. It’s still early in the process, but we’re hopeful for development there down the road.”

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