It signifies the beginning of a relationship or sometimes an end. It marks birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries, and is passed down through generations. Few purchases in life are more significant than that of fine jewelry—few purchases are infused with such emotion and require such a relationship of trust between the buyer and purveyor. Residents of Lincoln Square are fortunate to have a jewelry store that has served the neighborhood and maintained its impeccable reputation for 95 years. Stanley Brown Jewelist has been a jewelry store in Lincoln Square since 1912 and has been owned and operated by the same family since 1945.
Stanley Brown Jewelist is more like the jewelry stores of days gone by. As you walk in, a portrait of the jeweler at work hangs on the wall. Salespeople are friendly, yet dignified. A calm and quiet, almost museum-like aura makes an appropriate atmosphere for browsing cases filled with all types of jewelry for men, women and children. Modern and antique watches sit beside a display of tools that date back to the store's founding. Several trophies from past fishing expeditions hang behind the counters. There's a good chance that a well-behaved German shepherd or two might be behind the counters, too, since owners Debbie and Bruce Ekstrom raise and train them in their spare time. Stanley Brown is Debbie's father. Now retired, Stanley will be 88 this year. Debbie and Bruce are extremely invested in the business and are dedicated to selling, repairing and creating fine quality jewelry for their customers.
A sign in the store reads, "If you can dream it, we can make it." There are few places left that will actually make custom jewelry that's affordable. "We do a lot of specialty jewelry," explains Debbie. "For us, that's the most fun part. If you have jewelry that you don't wear or that's a style you don't like, we can use the stones and metals to design a completely new piece for you." Custom orders are a huge part of their business. Customers come in with anywhere from one to six requests a week, ranging from the basic (such as wedding bands) to the wild. Many original pieces start off as hand carvings in wax, which are processed to make a casting. Stanley Brown Jewelist can cast jewelry from a variety of metals. Some casting is done locally by a casting house and some is done out-of-state by casters they have known for years. It's also possible to make a copy of an existing piece you love or want to replace by molding it in rubber, then injecting the rubber mold with wax to process it. "There are not many places left that know jewelry like we do," says Bruce. "The jewelry business used to be primarily mom-and-pops who understood fine jewelry. At the chains, purchases are made at the head office and the people behind the counter generally know very little about what they're selling." "They don't deal with anything custom," says Debbie. "It's sad, because everyone deserves the opportunity to have something made for them."
Through the years, the Ekstroms have gotten some fairly odd requests. They have designed decorative dog collars, which they created with the help of a leather expert. They once made an ID bracelet for a parrot. And one of their regular customers, who was intent on playing a practical joke on her friends, asked them to make her a life-sized eyeball ring. "She went and purchased a prosthetic eyeball from a medical company, brought it in to us, and we made her a ring from it," explains Bruce. But if your ideas are a bit too outlandish, Bruce and Debbie will be honest with you. "When people come to us with really wild designs, we'll do everything we can—such as sneaking in supports in certain places—to make the piece. But sometimes it comes down to the fact that there's a reason why you can't build it that way." Jewelers really have to understand the properties of gemstones and metals to be able to repair or work with them. For example, some stones will melt under extreme heat, and the temperature of gold must be precise when you're making a casting so as to not compromise the finish. "Everything with jewelry is about control," says Bruce.
At Stanley Brown Jewelist, the most important part of the custom design process happens as the salespeople talk to the customer. "We ask questions to find out what their life is like, what are their hobbies. When we design something we take their personality into account," explains Debbie. "If a particular design or stone won't work well with their life, we tell them that up front. We want them to make a choice that they will be happy with." When it comes to making the jewelry, Bruce does most of the bench work, while Debbie does engraving and some of the wax carvings for custom items. In fact, Bruce wears a distinctive ring with a horse that she designed for him as a gift for their tenth wedding anniversary. "We're very good at visualizing what people want," says Debbie. "It's our job to understand what the customer wants, even if they can't articulate it."
Stanley Brown Jewelist will also repair your beloved jewelry, if possible, and will even work with costume items, like that ring from your grandmother that you just can't part with. "People have come to us with items that other stores said were impossible to fix," says Debbie. "If we can repair it, we'll do it." The store also specializes in antique pocket watches. "We like to restore the 100-year-old watches," says Bruce. "In many cases, we can't get the parts anymore but we will make the ones we can't get." Beautiful pocket watches are available for sale, in perfect working condition.
In many ways, the old watches pay homage to Stanley Brown. When he was 17, he came from Hungary to live with his uncle in Chicago. At night, he went to school to learn English. "They gave him an aptitude test to figure out what he would be good at, and it turned out that they recommended he go to watchmaking school," explains Debbie. At that time, the Lincoln Square store was owned by the Bobzien Brothers who had opened it in 1912. The Bobzien family was well known in the neighborhood, and they were close with Stanley's uncle. One day, his uncle suggested that he buy the jewelry store, which was for sale. "My dad said that he didn't have the money, and his uncle said he'd loan it to him," says Debbie. "So in 1945 he paid $5,250 for the entire store. Many of the old tools we have are from that business, and we still have the old Bobzien safe." In his early years of owning the store, it was located at several different storefronts on Western, north of Lawrence. Finally, in 1967, Stanley moved into the present location. "When he moved here, my dad changed the name of the business to Stanley Brown Jewelist. He told me that he decided to name it 'Jewelist' because 'we do things differently than everybody else.'"
As you might imagine, Debbie grew up in the store. "I remember hardly being able to see over the counters," laughs Debbie. "I wanted to wait on people right away, but they kept me busy with other stuff like cleaning the counters and cleaning the jewelry. Eventually they let me serve the customers, but I had to be able to see over the counters first." She met Bruce in 1972 and they married the next year. Bruce may not have come from a family in jewelry, but he had an interest in mechanics and had worked for several years in the engineering department at International Harvester. "She didn't get a jeweler, she made one," he laughs. After they married, Bruce continued to run a service school for U.S. Suzuki Motor Corporation where he taught dealers and mechanics to repair motorcycles and other vehicles, while Debbie ran a stable they both owned that housed 60 head of horses. In 1985, they both took the opportunity to buy the store when Stanley was ready to retire and immersed themselves in the world of jewelry.
It's obvious that Bruce and Debbie both love jewelry. They love working with it and they love helping people find the perfect pieces to mark the special events in their lives. Both of them take classes and constantly pursue the latest industry information. But the part they enjoy the most is bringing joy to their customers. "The best part is when a customer comes in to pick up their piece, and when we show it to them, they absolutely love it," explains Debbie. "I had one customer actually cry with joy when she saw it." Visit Stanley Brown Jewelist on Saturday, June 9, 2007 for an anniversary event to celebrate 95 years in business. You'll have a chance to meet Bruce and Debbie, and to enter drawings to win jewelry of your own. And make sure to think of Stanley Brown the next time you need a piece of fine jewelry from a place that will treat you with respect and that you can trust.
Stanley Brown Jewelist, Ltd.
4751 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
773.561.7229
www.jewelist.com
Hours:
Monday 10:30am - 8:00pm
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 10:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 10:30am - 8:00pm
Friday and Saturday 10:30am - 5:30pm
Sunday Closed
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