b'STAN & INGRIDRAZNYHOW IT STARTEDStan encouraged his parents to expand, first adding the Stans father, who also was named Stan Razny, and his mother, Jane2,000-square-foot space next door left vacant by a restaurants exit. Razny, opened the store that eventually became Razny Jewelers inIn their late 50s by that point, the elder Raznys were wary of tak-Oak Park, Illinois, in 1951.ing on risk and accumulating debt. The elder Razny had been a master bench jeweler and setter inBut they also could see their son, the grown-up version of the boy his native Poland but, like millions of others across Europe, foundwho was glued to his fathers side at the bench, was serious about the himself displaced after World War II. He met Jane, who also wasjewelry business.displaced from Poland, in England after the war. He gave his parents the push to be more and to grow, and Together, the two immigrated to an Americanhe gave them the confidence to do it, says Ingrid, city with a big Polish population, Chicago. who left her corporate accounting job to join Growing up, Stan describes himself as theRazny Jewelers in 1997. only one of the three children in his fam- If you dont have a next generation, ilyhe has two older sisterswho wasyou pretty much stop. always around the store, watchingBut I think his his father while he worked at theparents saw, bench and spending his summerMULTI-STOREOK this guy breaks among the showcases.INDEPENDENTis really com-Despite his interest, hisINDUCTEES mitted, he parents did not see jewelry as areally wants viable career path for their onlyto be here. son, at least not at first. That was kind I think, like most Europeanof the beginning of peoplemy parents are also fromthe expansion.Europethey just really wanted [their children to get an] education,CONTINUING TO GROW they really felt the corporate world wasAbout a decade after that first ex-where you had to be, Ingrid says.pansion in Addison, Stan felt it was time to They felt their business was very small and,upgrade to an even larger space, this time out lets say, not important actually. They never reallyon the western edge of town where there was a lot of thought they had such a great store. development and where the Medinah Country Club, one of Stan went on to study accounting at Marquette University in Mil- the countrys premier golf clubs, is located. waukee, which didnt turn out to be such a bad thing after allit wasAt this point, Stan recalls, most of what the store sold was jewelry. in economics class at Marquette that he met Ingrid, one of the fewIt didnt carry any of the major watch brands, something else he women studying accounting at the university in the late 70s.wanted to change. Both became certified public accountants and worked in the corpo- I always knew we had to go after the opportunity to get Rolex, rate world until 1986 when one of Razny Jewelers bench jewelers left.he says.Stan made a radical decision. He quit his corporate accounting jobThe family bought land and constructed a 9,000-square-foot to take the jewelers place. building, which Razny Jewelers initially occupied along with other He remembers it like this. tenants. I showed up at [my parents store]. I said, I quit my job to myThe store opened in fall 1997 and, a year later, a combination of the dad and he looked at me like, You did what? His idea was, Ill breaknew store and a lucky coincidence landed Razny Jewelers the brand that you and youll go back to corporate America. So, he offered me somechanged the business foreverRolex.[paltry] amount of money to come work at the store. He thought,In late 1998, Rolex just happened to be having a management Theres no way hes going to stay here. I think he gave me like $200meeting by the Addison store. A couple of executives wandered in a week, some ridiculous amount.one afternoon and, one thing led to another. We got the green light, At that point, Razny Jewelers had just a single 1,000-square-footStan recalls.store in a strip mall in Addison, Illinois.We both look [back on] the invoice we had to pre-pay when we I SHOWED UP AT [MY PARENTS STORE]. I SAID, I QUIT MY JOB TO MY DAD AND HE LOOKED AT ME LIKE,YOU DID WHAT?STAN RAZNY NATIONAL JEWELER 41'