Sisters who own jewelry store keep focus on the customers
Sheboygan Press, WI
By Charlie Mathews
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
TWO RIVERS —Linda Streu and Paula Schuette wouldn’t shed any tears if the Internet disappeared.
Enter the search term “Online Jewelry Store” into Google, and links to 179,000 sites are displayed.
The growth of the Internet has been the biggest change the sisters, (their maiden name is Batchelder) and co-owners of downtown Dalebroux Jewelry, have witnessed in their 17 years of ownership.
With Internet sites and local jewelers including Inman, Rummele and Boelter’s and Crystal Pathway, the sisters have plenty of competition.
“Customer service … that’s the main reason why we’re still in business,” said Schuette, 42, quickly touting the expertise of their three veteran employees, Wendy Deubner, Pat Lawler and Yvonne Stodola.
Ring inspections and cleaning are free, as is engraving on products purchased at Dalebroux. Watch batteries are priced between $5 and $7.
Schuette recalled Streu going to Sheboygan in a snowstorm to pick up an engagement ring so their customer wouldn’t have to delay his trip.
In addition to making sure customers are well cared for, Streu, 48, said the sisters, who own all the inventory in the store, have developed over the years a strong sense of what products at what prices will sell in the Lakeshore economy.
Customers may spend $50 or several thousand. “We aim to find everybody’s price point,” Schuette said.
They carry Precious Moments and Fontanini collectible figurines to complement fine crystal and jewelry, and hundreds of men’s and women’s watches.
The sisters realize that even though the store’s lineage dates back to 1875, that doesn’t guarantee success today.
Selection, value and how the products are displayed are all important, with that last factor prompting a recent $50,000 investment for new carpeting, display cases, a redesigned interior, new exterior facade windows and signage.
The sisters wanted to make sure they could continue to attract customers in future years, including patrons such as Helen Belonger, who last week was having a watch battery replaced but has often made more substantial purchases.
“I have bought bracelets and necklaces for granddaughters,” said Belonger, a customer for a half-century. “My mother and father-in-law used to come buy rings and watches and we do, too,” she said of acquisitions by herself and her husband, Donald.
The Belongers will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary next month and Helen said she is expecting something with diamonds.
Personalized designs
Whether or not she’ll bring in a design printed off an Internet site is uncertain, but that is something some customers do, Schuette said, citing one of the positives of the technology.
The sisters, their staff and goldsmith often assist customers in creating custom mountings, perhaps reusing jewels from, say, a deceased mother’s wedding ring into a pendant or earrings.
The sisters also sell Seiko Melodies in Motion clocks that feature hi-fi melodies, such as Beatles and Elvis Presley songs, including some timepieces with Swarovski crystals.
“Seiko Melodies in Motion clocks are built on the idea that to merely tick away and do nothing more interesting than keep the time is a waste of perfectly good wall space,” is the marketing slogan for timepieces costing from about $100 to $500.
Both sisters often wear sets of matching necklaces, bracelets and rings that draw the admiration and inquiries of shoppers. Schuette and Streu enjoy wearing what they can help customers buy.
The sisters worked for Dick and Bette Dalebroux when they were students at Washington High School. That school is closed, making way for the new Two Rivers High School. Streu has been at the store, as employee or owner, for about 33 years, and Schuette, about 28 years.
They plan to run the business for several more years. The sisters said they are in the people-pleasing business and that is exactly what they enjoy doing.
