b'HOLLY WESCHEgrow old and at certain points in the timeline, I would gain more and more equity in the business, Holly says.When Jim got sick, Hollys mother June left the business to care for him, leaving Holly at the helm.At this point, Wesche Jewelers had two locations, a strip-center store and a freestanding store her parents had built. Back in 1977, the very firstHolly Wesche and Sandi Brockert in one of the former Wesche Jewelers locationsstore Jim and June opened was a little beachside shop.Jim and Holly Wesche on Hollys first diamond-buying trip Later, they opened anoth- to Antwerp, Belgium, in October 1990er store in the communitys new regional mall, Melbourne Square, where much of the areas growth was concentrated at the time, and closed the beachside location.to help arrange for June to sell the freestanding location because the After 10 years in the mall, the Wesches built a freestanding storefamily owned that building and land. The sale was her retirement. down the street and moved there.Then the business was evaluated, and in March 2002, Holly re-Right before my dad got brain cancer, I wanted us to open aceived a loan to buy Wesche Jewelers. second store in this strip center a few miles from this new part ofShe became the official owner of the remaining location in the our community called Viera, and I had almost gotten him to agree tostrip center and all the leftover inventory from the closed store.that, Holly says.Holly later decided to buy property, and in September 2006, she The developer of the strip center knew the family was looking forbuilt the 15,000-square-foot store, closing the strip-center store once a location near Viera andbusiness took off in the new location.reached out to Holly.He gave my motherTRUE GRITand me a sweetheart dealHollys right-hand person and partner in crime, Sandi Brockert, because he wanted arecalls the beginning of that new era vividly.strong local tenant in theWe looked at plans together, we drove out every day to see it com-strip center, so thats howing. We watched as it progressed. We stood on the flat ground saying, we ended up with theMy gosh, the stores not going to be very big, but then, all the sudden, freestanding store andit went up, and we were like, Wow, its huge! Brockert says. the strip-center store,[Holly] always wanted it to resemble a resort. One of the things Holly explains. ThatI remember distinctly is, it being a two-story building, we talked store did extremely about having a grand staircase, semi-circular coming down from the well and put me in a upstairs.financial position toBecause the team anticipated children would be in the store, the buy the land and buildstaircase idea was nixed for safety reasons and instead, a kids play-the big store thatroom was put in. Now, its a selfie room.were in now. Prior to her retirement in 2015, Brockert worked for Wesche Following JimsJewelers for a little over 20 years as the merchandise manager and Holly Wesche and longtime boyfriend Jim Woodard at the passing, Hollysgeneral manager.Gem Awards mother decidedIn the 80s, when the Wesches had their store in the Melbourne she didnt want toSquare mall, Brockert was working across the corridor at a differ-stay in the businessent family-owned store. She and the family were on the mall board without him. She and Holly redid thetogether. Eventually, the store Brockert worked at closed and she put agreements, and in doing so, had to address the question of logis- in an application at Wesche Jewelers. tics, like how Holly would buy two stores and how her mothers[The Wesches] were very prim and proper people of that gen-retirement would be handled. eration, of my generation, Brockert says. Youd never see [Jim] From 2000 to 2001, the family worked with a consultant friendwithout his business coat on, but his interest above all else was just Continued on page 2018 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2023'