Thirty Years of Sparkle: Longnecker Jewelry Shines at the Top of the Region

McCOOK Neb. - When you step into Longnecker Jewelry on Norris Avenue, it doesn’t feel like a store competing with big-city showrooms across the Midwest. It feels like what it is—a small, independent shop where customers are greeted by name, repairs are done in-house, and owner Bill Longnecker can often be found at the bench with a loupe in hand. 

But behind that small-town storefront sits a much bigger story. 

Recently, a marketing company contacted Bill offering to sell him a plaque recognizing Longnecker Jewelry as one of Nebraska’s top five Google-reviewed jewelers. Curious about the ranking, he turned to his computer—specifically, artificial intelligence—to take a closer look. What he found surprised even him. 

By comparing Google ratings for jewelry stores across several surrounding states, Bill discovered that Longnecker Jewelry isn’t just “among the best.” It’s leading the entire region. 

Longnecker Jewelry currently holds a perfect 5.0-star Google rating with over 400 reviews, a score that surpasses major jewelers across Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Iowa. 

“I always knew we had great reviews,” Longnecker said. “We get five stars all the time. It just felt commonplace for us… but I never really stopped to see how that compared to anybody else.” 

What began as a simple curiosity quickly turned into a moment of realization. 

“This is the thing we really need to be focused on,” he said. “Look at how good we are.” 

From small-town kid to award-winning jeweler 

Longnecker’s roots run deep in southwest Nebraska. He went to school in Maywood, McCook and Indianola, and describes himself as a kid who never expected to own a jewelry store—or any business at all. 

He admits openly that he didn’t enjoy school and didn’t put much effort into it. 

“They held me back in first grade, and after that I just settled for mediocrity,” he said. “If I could get a 70 percent and pass, that’s what I’d do. I didn’t try harder because I didn’t think I needed to.” 

For years, he assumed he wasn’t particularly capable academically—what mattered to him was simply getting by, staying out of trouble, and finishing school. 

But that early mindset stands in sharp contrast to the Bill Longnecker customers know today. Somewhere along the way, something shifted. 

“I’m a guy that should have never owned a jewelry store,” he said with a laugh. “That was never in my wheelhouse.” 

Yet he took to the trade almost immediately. Working as an apprentice in Kansas City, he progressed so quickly that his mentor told him, only two and a half years in, that he had nothing left to teach him. 

“Most apprenticeships are five to seven years,” Bill said. “After two and a half, he told me, ‘Bill, I can’t teach you anything else. You’re absorbing everything.’” 

With the help of McCook National Bank and SBA financing, Bill returned home and opened Longnecker Jewelry nearly three decades ago. 

Since then, the shop has been recognized twice as one of “America’s Best Jewelers” and has become known throughout the region for its detailed repair work, custom designs, generational heirloom restorations, and thoughtful customer service. 

“I love it all,” he said. “The bench work, the repairs, the 3-D CAD design, the sales, the marketing—even the accounting. I like making sure everything works together the way it’s supposed to.” 

A five-star experience—hundreds of times over 

For new businesses, a 5.0 Google rating isn’t unusual. What makes

Jewelry stand out is that it has maintained that rating through hundreds of public reviews over many years. 

Customers mention driving hours for custom rings, shipping pieces from out of state, and trusting Bill with jewelry tied to major life moments. Many talk about the care with which he handles heirlooms—stones from grandmothers, rings passed down through families, and pieces that carry emotion as much as monetary value. 

“They’re not just buying a ring,” Bill said. “There’s almost always a story or a person behind it. You have to treat that with respect.” 

The shop also maintains top ratings on Facebook and TripAdvisor, where travelers regularly list it as one of McCook’s standout stops. 

Navigating a changing industry 

Even as the store continues to thrive, the jewelry world itself has changed dramatically. 

“The biggest change in 30 years? Lab-grown diamonds,” Longnecker said. 

When lab-grown stones first entered the market, they were pushed as an eco-friendly alternative to natural diamonds, priced slightly lower. Bill was cautious from the beginning, closely following industry publications and noticing how quickly new production labs were opening. 

“Every week it was another announcement—another lab being built somewhere,” he said. “I thought, This is going to flood the market.” 

He advised his staff not to push lab-grown stones unless customers specifically wanted them, and he warned that prices would drop. 

“And that’s exactly what happened,” he said. “There are so many lab diamonds now that some suppliers practically bundle them with mountings just to move inventory.” 

This surge temporarily reduced demand for natural diamonds, pushing their prices down—good news for today’s buyers, but challenging for jewelers carrying older inventory purchased at higher costs. 

Still, Bill says lab-grown stones absolutely have their place. 

“For big, flashy pieces—like large earrings or pendants—you can’t beat them,” he said. “And some people have champagne taste on a beer budget. Lab stones help us serve those customers too.” 

From Husker Game Day glory to the digital marketing era 

Long before most local businesses were thinking about social media, Longnecker Jewelry was creating highly successful Facebook video promotions, including the popular Husker Game Day Challenge, which partnered with local businesses to give away major prizes. 

“There was a year where our videos were getting 10–17,000 views a week,” he said. “Then Facebook changed the algorithm, and overnight we were lucky to get 500.” 

Those shifts led him to rework his digital strategy. Today he focuses primarily on Google and search-based advertising—meeting customers where they are, rather than fighting platform changes. 

“It’s gotten to the point where if you’re not doing digital, you’re really falling behind,” he said. 

Creativity upstairs and down 

For nearly 25 years, Bill has lived in the upstairs apartment above his store. His space—featured in this year’s holiday home tour—offers a glimpse into another side of him. 

Much of the artwork on the walls was painted by Bill himself, reflecting the same steady hands and attention to detail that shape his jewelry work. In recent years, he has also taken up writing and is a published author, extending his creativity into yet another form. 

Visitors on the tour were able to see the paintings, the unique layout, the touches of personality, and the quiet creative world that sits directly above the shop where so many engagement rings, wedding bands, and keepsakes have been brought to life. 

“We really are killing it.” 

For all the changes in the industry—and all the national competition—Longnecker keeps returning to the same core belief: if you take care of people, the rest follows. 

“I’m not more special than anybody else,” he said. “I’m just somebody who refuses to settle for mediocrity.” 

That attitude has shaped the store’s reputation: repairs that come back looking like new, custom designs that start as sketches and end in emotional moments, and a steady stream of five-star reviews from across the region. 

“We work really hard to get it right,” he said. “I just didn’t realize how far that had taken us until I saw those charts.” 

Today, Longnecker Jewelry stands as something rare: 

A world-class rating in a small-town shop, right in the heart of downtown McCook—where the owner still answers the phone, greets customers at the counter, and keeps creating, both upstairs and down. 

STORE HOURS: Monday – Friday

10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.Closed 1-2 for lunch

Call or Text 308-345-1742

314 Norris Avenue | McCook, NE