“You have to develop what I call ‘color eyes,’” she said.
“You have to stay in it. You can’t take a break. You need to constantly be focusing on the trends,” he said.
Owner Hope Wixon shows customers some gemstone options for a ring. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Dan grew up in Ghent, Minn., a town of about 300 near Marshall in southwest Minnesota. His father was a butcher who worked all hours and days to help farmers and customers.
“He was a really good businessman with a high standard, which I like to think we’ve carried through,” Dan said. He keeps a photo of his father in the break room.
After serving as an Army medic during the Vietnam War, Dan returned to Minnesota and for much of the 1970s and 1980s worked in the antiques business. By handling estate sales, he learned about jewelry. When he finally opened his own store, it occupied just a portion of the building on Lyndale, though he knew he wanted to do more.
“Every jewelry store out there stops at a certain level, and that is always dictated by the mentality of the owner,” Dan said. “If the owner is a guy who repairs jewelry, he’s going to have a repair jewelry store. If the owner is convinced that he can’t sell two carat diamonds, that’s where he stops and he’s a one carat diamond jeweler. You just can’t limit yourself like that.”
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