'It gets in your blood'
This is the fourth "Here and Now" photo column in a small series about downtown Naperville businesses that have been in operation for more than 40 years.
Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 11:45 a.m. -- Third-generation jeweler Dean Perle appraises a parcel of diamonds worth about $2.5 million at Perle Jewelers in downtown Naperville. Perle will use the diamonds to make jewelry and to sell to other jewelers. His father Pete Perle opened the jewelry store in Aurora and in the 1950s moved it to Naperville. Now Dean and his sister Janine own and operate the store.
Perle: "This kind of business, it gets in your blood. When you stay small -- a single store -- it has a tendency to be kind of passed down from generation to generation. It's not like the chains where everything is about profit and 'see how fast we can spread out and see how much money we can make.' This is a different way of doing business -- much more personable. And a lot of our customers are two and three generations. We actually have customers in almost every state in the country -- from all over. Of course most of them, because we're local, are from Naperville. ...
"I do a lot of custom work. That's primarily what I do when I'm not working with diamonds. I've been doing jewelry manufacturing since I was probably in my mid- to late teens. And this is part of being a part of a family business, too. I've actually been working here at the store since I was probably 10 or 12 years old after school and during the holidays. When Dad and Mom originally were working here they needed some help and after school -- after doing my paper route -- my mom would bring me over here and I would work until closing. It kind of feels like an extended family. I know a lot of the people in town here; I had gone to school with them. ... It's like I have a thousand cousins here in town.
"... Every day is different here. I haven't had a lot of experience with the corporate world. Friends of mine I hear talking that every day is the same. It's kind of homogenous. ... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they kind of all run together in a blur. Here, every day is different. You can see the people that have come in here -- everybody is different. There's nothing cookie cutter about what I do. I think that's probably one of the things I like best about it. And, like I say, the people of Naperville I've just become friends with so many of them over the years. ...
"I think I knew very young that this is what I wanted to do. Like I say, it's something that gets in your blood. I can't imagine doing anything else. I've got daughters I'm hoping they'll get into it. They've shown some interest in it but I'd like to give them the opportunity to decide for themselves. I don't want to push them into anything and then to have regrets in 10 or 20 years. I was given the freedom to choose and I think they should have the same. I've got a grandson; maybe he'll decide he wants into the business.
"Here and Now" is a weekly column about your community. If you have an idea for a column, contact the Sun photo department at sunphoto@scn1.com or 630-416-5245.
