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History of J. Anthony Jewelers |
J. Anthony Jewelers began in 1982, over 1000 miles away in Ocala, Florida. After graduation from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Joe Ziemba and his wife, Amy, were transferred to Florida by Joe's employer. After the Florida division closed, Joe began training as a jewelry sales associate with the national chain, Zale's, and Amy was apprenticed to a local goldsmith in Ocala.
 In 1982 Joe and Amy had a new addition to their family, Benjamin. With the experience in jewelry in Florida, and their new son, the Ziemba's decided to return home to Wisconsin, with the goal of opening an independent jewelry store. Joe transferred to Zale's in Oshkosh, and Amy purchased goldsmith hand tools to make repairs and sizing at home.
In 1984, Joe was offered a management position for an independent jewelry store in West Bend, Wisconsin. During the next few years, Joe learned more about jewelry and diamonds, and became familiar with stone-cutters and suppliers. Still working at home, Amy developed the core of what would become J. Anthony's service business, perfecting her skills at repairing jewelry, setting stones, resizing rings, and designing jewelry. On his time off, Joe worked with Amy to supply regional jewelry stores with repair jobs. After three years, in 1987, Joe and Amy decided to purchase a small jewelry store in downtown Neenah, called Faye's Fine Jewelry.
 From the beginning, they worked to incorporate the goldsmith services Amy had perfected into the retail jewelry store. With Amy's goldsmith skills and Joe's management training, they were able to expand their business quickly. Within twelve years, they had remodeled the location three times and hired on four full-time employees. In addition, they had established a reputation in the Fox Valley for quality and service. They could complete repairs quickly and professionally, sometimes in the same day. With the addition of a fulltime goldsmith, Amy could focus more on design, and, with Joe, created a complete jewelry design studio. Joe's contacts with professionals in the industry allowed him to offer jewelry at respectable prices.
Soon he was hosting shows by gemstone merchants and began the Antwerp diamond direct program. As a service to customers of Faye's Fine Jewelry, Joe decided to retain the name of the business. Over time, as the business grew and new customers continued to shop at Faye's, the name began to cause confusion. Toward the end of the 1990’s, it was obvious that the business had outgrown the downtown building. Despite three remodeling projects, the studio and showroom could not expand anymore.
In September, 1998, Joe and Amy purchased a new building at 220 S. Commercial St. in Neenah. With the new location, Joe changed the name of the business to J. Anthony Jewelers, based on Joe's first and middle name.
They added space to the design studio, and created a large showroom. Today, the small basement business of Ocala, Florida has grown into one of the Fox Valley’s premiere jewelry destinations.
J. Anthony Jewelers can proudly say that they are a family jeweler. Currently, Amy is continuing her education with jewelry, learning new things everyday at the gold bench. She also is enjoying being on the sales floor where she has helped develop long term relationships with many customers who have been the cornerstone to our business. Joe still works from time to time at the gold bench and wax bench designing jewelry as well as running the business itself.
Their son Benjamin has been working with them since he was 8. He started by doing simple maintenance and has continued his jewelry education by becoming a certified quartz watch repairman and also by honing his jewelry repair skills. Benjamin graduated from The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a degree in Operations Management, class of 2005. He now works full time in Neenah managing day to day activities such as sales, repairs, internet upkeep, etc.
J. Anthony Jewelers was proudly awarded "Best Jeweler" by Wisconsin Bride magazine readers in the year 2006. With the competition for that award heating up in 2007, the staff at J.Anthony's really wanted that award again. All the hard work paid off, our clients again named J. Anthony Jewelers "Best Jeweler" of 2007, out shining the other three finalists, Jared's, Kessler's and Kay's, all of which are huge jewelry businesses. Goes to show you that sales volume and advertising dollars don't make for happy customers, it's about the J. Anthony Jewelers experience. |
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