The Lookout News, CA
June 6 2005
As New Chamber Chair, Jeweler Hopes to Help Polish a Gem of a City
By Menaka Fernando
Special to The Lookout
June 6 — At a small desk in the back room of a popular jewelry store
in downtown Santa Monica, an accomplished businessman with humble
beginnings divulges the secret of his success.
“Be true to yourself and do what’s really right. Always think what
the other people need or what it takes to make other people happy,”
says Eddie Guerboian, the owner of Reader’s Fine Jeweler’s on
Wilshire Boulevard.
Or maybe, he says, “just be married to my wife, Evelyn.”
The several family pictures scattered on his desk and the ebullience
he exudes when he speaks of his loved ones makes it clear that
Guerboian is a family man.
With his son working the register, his wife directing the finances,
his mother volunteering as the “food-runner” and five generations of
Guerboian blood behind it, to say that Reader’s is a family-run
business is an understatement.
And so, when Guerboian took the reins as the new chairman of Santa
Monica’s Chamber of Commerce last week, he planned to turn in part to
the leadership skills he’s learned from his family to help him move
the city’s business community forward.
Like parents who guide their kids by good example, Guerboian plans to
lead members of the chamber by exuding passion and positivism every
step of the way.
And he hopes to use his small business perspective to help build
partnerships and encourage all businesses to participate in the
decision-making process of their community.
But Guerboian acknowledges that boosting membership and participation
— two of his key goals — will require making the chamber relevant
to some businesses.
“From talking to some of the members I hear they are asking ‘Oh, what
the chamber does for me?’ and they expect benefits right away,” he
said.
“But the chamber does so many things that is not tangible… in the
long-run, to benefit the members, but the result is not right away,”
Guerboian said, citing advocacy as an example.
Guerboian plans to talk to these businesses and be “truthful” about
the benefits the chamber can provide, mainly as a collective
political voice in a city that is widely seen as “anti-business.
“I’m not shy to ask people to do things,” he said.
Guerboian’s directness may stem from the confidence that comes from
success. His rags-to-riches story is a testament to America, he says,
calling it “still, the land of opportunity.”
As a 17-year-old boy, Guerboian immigrated to the United States from
his native country of Armenia in 1968. His father had just died, and
he left his mother and siblings to conquer the unknown thousands of
miles away.
Guerboian speculated that his father died from the stress incurred
when Armenia’s Communist government nationalized the country’s
businesses in 1967, including his father’s jewelry store.
In America, the only contact Guerboian had was to an Armenian
Orthodox church in New York. There, he was given the choice of
staying in Manhattan or coming to California.
The choice was easy, he said: “Who doesn’t want to come to
California?”
While juggling two jobs, Guerboian took evening classes and got a
degree in business from Santa Monica City College. He lived in a
one-bedroom apartment on the corner of 4th and Strand streets. It had
a folding bed, he recalled.
Within five years, he had brought the rest of the family to Santa
Monica. He married his wife Evelyn — whom he calls the “love of his
life” — 29 years ago and opened the jewelry store in 1977.
Currently, Guerboian lives with his wife, son, two daughters and
mother in his Tarzana home.
Over the decades, Guerboian has watched the Santa Monica business
community evolve from “good to better.” The biggest change, he
believes, is that most businesses no longer survive as individuals —
there’s more collaboration, and that’s a good thing.
Guerboian is passionate about the need to work with the city’s
developers and lawmakers to solve the specific problems facing Santa
Monica’s business community.
The chamber’s priority will be to deal with traffic, parking and
homelessness, issues that have caused much friction between the
chamber and City Council.
Though he glossed over specific proposals to tackle these problems,
Guerboain said he feels he is working with the City and not against
it and plans to meet soon with City officials. “The future looks
bright,” he said.
Guerboian’s optimism reflects his nature, Evelyn Guerboian said.
“He’s always in a very positive mood,” she said.
Still, her husband tends to take a lot on his plate, Evelyn said,
joking that the family rarely sees Eddie at home.
In addition to owning the jewelry store, Guerboian coaches two
basketball teams in an Armenian Youth league and serves on the board
of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica, among other activities.
On the rare occasion that Guerboian has free time, he likes to cheer
on his favorite basketball team, the Lakers, though he was
disappointed with their showing this season.
While excited about the prospects for Santa Monica businesses during
his one-year tenure, Guerboian’s enthusiasm is more apparent when
speaking about a different prospect.
Recently, Avo informed his father that he would like to take over the
family business when he gets older.
“Since I’ve grown up with it, I’ve been in the store since the age of
five, I feel an obligation,” Avo said, and he added, “I like it too.”
Guerboian said he considers himself a wealthy man, not because of the
money he has in the bank, but because of his family and his community
which he treasures.
“Santa Monica is the gem of the community, and like a gem, there are
a lot of faces,’ the jeweler said. `Santa Monica has a lot of faces
and it won’t sparkle unless all the faces are polished.”