History Of Wesche Jewelers Wesche Jewelers was founded by Jim and June Wesche in 1977. For 13 years previous to that time, Mr. Wesche was associated with Underwood Jewelers in Jacksonville, Florida. During this time, he did everything from running errands to eventually running the company. He started as a sales associate and became Vice President of the company, with responsibility to the owners for 175 employees and several million dollars in sales. (The owners were Herb and June Underwood, Mrs. Wesche's uncle and aunt.) From an early age, June Wesche had also been with Underwood Jewelers and over the years held many different positions. Both her parents worked there also. On October 27, 1977, Jim and June purchased a small jewelry store (15 ft. wide x 100 ft. deep) in Brevard County, Florida from Mr. S.D. Kelsey. This small store was the first location for Wesche Jewelers and was located in a strip center on the beachside of Melbourne. The transition period was not without its problems, and there was a short time when it was doubtful that the business would survive. Hard work and the help of good employees enabled the store to exist beyond this early period and eventually the business began to grow. Three years later, the store was expanded to almost double its original size by taking over the adjacent showroom in the strip center. Then in October of 1982, another Wesche Jewelers was opened in the new Melbourne Square Mall, which was the first regional mall to come to the area. In December of 1985, the Wesche's oldest daughter, Holly, joined the family business. She began as a sales associate and worked at both locations. Eventually, she became the manager of the Melbourne Square Mall store. She also earned her AGS Certified Gemologist title. She worked closely with her father on all areas of the family business. Under his guidance, she was able to gain valuable experience in merchandising, advertising, personnel management, and general operations. In 1988, the Wesches decided to close the original store at the beachside location leaving just the store in Melbourne Square Mall. While the beachside store was doing well, the Wesches could see that the potential for growth was going to be at the new Mall location and felt it was best to focus their efforts on that one store. In 1990, Jim Wesche started looking for a piece of property so that a free-standing store could be built. Wanting to expand the business, both in size and product lines, he felt that purchasing property and building his own building would be the most effective avenue for potential growth and visibility in the community. After much consideration, a site was chosen (a parcel of land in the Home Depot Plaza) and construction began in 1992. The move from the Melbourne Square Mall into the new 5000 sq.ft. building located on New Haven Avenue in front of the Home Depot Plaza took place in October of 1992. This store was just a mile down the road from Melbourne Square. The business began to thrive in the new free-standing store. Each year brought growth in volume and customer base. More employees were hired. From an original staff of only five people at the beachside store, Wesche Jewelers now employed 12 people. Holly began to assume responsibility for all the day-to-day operations of the store. She and her father still worked together on the advertising and merchandising. Holly's mom, June, ran the bookkeeping office. In the mid 1990's, Holly was taking care of the general "running of the business" which allowed Mr. and Mrs. Wesche to do some traveling. The business was continuing to grow thanks to the hard work of an excellent staff. Unfortunately, in February of 1998, Mr. Wesche was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away in July of 1999. This was certainly a difficult time for the Wesche family. Due to the dedication and support of the employees, the business still managed to operate smoothly and continued to grow. In fact, with a strong economic environment, Wesche Jewelers enjoyed record breaking sales during the fourth quarter of 1999. In 1997 and early 1998, prior to Mr. Wesche's diagnosis, Mr. and Mrs. Wesche and Holly had been discussing opening another store. This idea was obviously put on hold when Mr. Wesche became ill. However, in the Fall of 1999, Holly and her Mom began to discuss again the concept of a second store. They enlisted the help of Mike Renfro, a friend who is a commercial realtor and finally decided to open a 3600 sq. ft. store in the new Post Commons Shopping Center. Wesche Jewelers' second location in the Post Commons Shopping Center opened in October of 2000. Early in 2001, Holly and her mom began to discuss what the next step should be in the growth of the family business. They decided to hire AJ Sales, a friend and business consultant who had known the Wesche family for ten years. In fact, Mr. Wesche had hired AJ six years earlier to do an analysis of the business. AJ did an extensive study of the current state of the family business and the demographics of Brevard County. He also talked with both Holly and June about their personal goals. June was ready to retire and Holly was anxious to take the family business to the next level. AJ's extensive study showed that while both stores were profitable, the future of the business was clearly going to be in the fast growing Suntree/Viera area. So in the Summer of 2001, it was decided that the best course of action was to close the New Haven store which would leave just the store in the Post Commons Shopping Center. Then Holly could proceed with plans to build a larger free-standing store located somewhere in the Suntree area. A large Retirement/Store Closing Sale was held in the Fall of 2001 and the New Haven store closed on January 19, 2002. Business at the Post Commons store continued to thrive. Holly officially purchased the business from her mother in March of 2002. The next month, Holly and her husband, Mike, began to work, once again, with commercial realtor Mike Renfro on selection of a site for a large free-standing store in the Suntree area. In August of 2003, Holly purchased a 3-acre piece of property on Wickham Road very near I-95 in the heart of the explosion of growth in the Suntree/Viera area. Holly and Mike began working on the plans for a small mixed-use center that would consist of two buildings and be built in two phases. The first phase would be the construction of a 15,000+ sq. ft. building that would be the new Wesche Jewelers store. Phase two would consist of the construction of the second building, which would then be leased to a combination of office and retail businesses. The projected move from the Post Commons location to the new Wesche Jewelers store is Fall of 2005. From only five employees in 1977 to more than 20 employees in 2007, Wesche Jewelers has been fortunate to enjoy steady growth and has become the largest independent jeweler in Brevard County. With the continued support of an excellent staff and plans for the large new store, Wesche Jewelers is poised to become one of the leading jewelers in the state of Florida. • Return to Wesche Jewelers Home »