Kantor Diamond Co., of Cathedral City, Calif., plans to close a store that it has operated here for 17 years.


The store occupies a roughly 1,200-square-foot space in the Logan Center, at 1601 N. Division, where it has been located for five years. It moved there from a similar-sized space on the sixth floor of the U.S. Bank Building, at 422 W. Riverside, where it had been for 12 years.


Company representatives declined to comment about the closure, but newspaper advertisements and a sign near the store indicate that the store is liquidating its entire inventory.


Once strictly a wholesale enterprise, Kantor specializes in selling loose diamonds, but also carries pearls, wedding bands, chains, and diamond earrings, as well as offering brokering services. Part of its retail emphasis has been educating customers, in a one-on-one setting, about how to judge diamond quality.


The company is owned by siblings David, Jay, and Michelle Kantor. The Kantor family has been involved in the diamond business for four generations. The company still operates other stores in Kennewick, Tacoma, and Redding, Calif.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.