Jewelry

Third place: Art Metals Studio, 332 Main St., Racine

While Austin Schultz was leaving Emaus Lutheran Church one morning in 2002, he was asked a question by friend Judy Olsen. Would Schultz, then a sophomore at The Prairie School, be interested in working for her part time at Plumb Gold, the Downtown Racine jewelry story she had started in 1976?

Schultz, who was interested in arts, immediately accepted. By 2009, after graduating from the Miami (Ohio) University with a degree in fine arts, he was working full time for Olsen. And in November 2015, he bought the establishment from her and has been raising the bar on its quality since then.

“Overall, I’ve tried to modernize the look of the boutique,” said 33-year-old Schultz, who employs three full-timers and five part-timers. “The store is very welcoming and calming when people come in. Going into a fine jewelry store can be intimidating for people, so I wanted to imbue that calming atmosphere.

“I also wanted to diversify the price range of the items that we are offering. I think people thought Plumb Gold sold only very high-end jewelry. And we have a high-end aesthetic. But I didn’t want it to just be $5,000 pieces.

“We have everything from $50 to $50,000 — and everywhere in between.”

Schultz takes it a step further with his relaxed approach. His employees dress more casually. He also displays some jewelry in the open instead of keeping his entire inventory under lock and key.

“That makes it where customers don’t feel scared to interact with the jewelry, so that’s another way to calm the customer down,” Schultz said.

His goals are simple.

“It’s just to keep expanding, to keep bringing new collections to Racine and keep doing the great custom work that we’re known for,” he said. “I like to bring things you’re not going to see everywhere, so a lot of our collections are European.

“I just want to keep that diversity going.”