Jake W. and Edith Garehime came to Las Vegas in ’24. Jake was a jeweler by trade, but he also knew how to rebuild pianos. The Garehimes opened the Garehime Music and Jewelry Store on Fremont St, described by the family as the town’s first music and jewelry store.
The business moved through a number of downtown locations during its early years, including the Sullivan Building on Carson Street, and other locations before settling at the Garehime home at 10th and Stewart in the ’30s. In 1940, the company bought its own property and opened a new store on North 3rd Street. The two-story building housed Garehime Music for more than two decades.
Garehime grew beyond selling musical instruments, offering radios and phonographs in the 1920s and later records, stereo equipment, and hi-fi gear. Musicians, entertainers, and generations of Las Vegas residents bought instruments, records, sheet music, and equipment there.
In ’65, Garehime moved to a new store at 955 E. Sahara in the East Commercial Shopping Center. The family business continued there until it closed in ’88.
Garehime moved multiple times over the years, and the location timeline breaks down as follows:
- 1924: 100-block Fremont St. Original downtown location.
- 1929: Sullivan Building, 119 Carson St. Radio/phonograph business; Edison dealer.
- 1930: 1020 Fremont St.
- 1931: 419 Fremont St., as Graber-Garehime Music Co. There may have been a gap between the closing of this store and the opening of the next.
- 1934: 1001 Stewart Ave. The store operated from an addition to the Garehime residence.
- 1940: 115 N. Third St. Purpose-built Garehime building opened 8/1/40. When the store moved in the 60s, the Garehime family retained ownership of this parcel, Lot 24, Block 18.
- 1965: 955 E Sahara Ave. Closed in 1988.
