Champaign's Jewel

M. J. Reed Jewelers is a modest shop, on the outside. The storefront sits in between a Chinese restaurant and a Sport Clips in the Old Farm Shops on the corner of Kirby and Prospect. But the store is bright, welcoming, with mirrors on the wall reflecting the outside sun and light glinting off the rings and necklaces featured in the cases. The pieces are exquisite. Rings, necklaces, bracelets range from simple to complex, arrays of diamonds surrounding unique stones and delicate strings of jewels. And the business itself is a hidden gem, a piece of history tucked away in the heart of Champaign.

At the helm is John Milton Reed, a perfect example of the legacy a family can create in business. In 1940, Milton John Reed, Reed’s father, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and an experienced silversmith, purchased a small jewelry store right on Main Street, on the central strip of downtown Champaign. It was a business that had been in operation since 1897, and it stood, strong and unwavering in the old stone building, weathering the changing times, the progression of the railroad as it reached its tendrils into Champaign and a rotation of owners over the years.

The jewelry store, first named A.E. Wuesteman Jewelers and then Wuesteman & Wallace when Buck Wallace joined the fray, was finally named M.J. Reed Jewelers in 1949, after M. J. Reed purchased the store and Wuesteman retired. It’s stayed in the Reed family since then, eventually passing to John Reed after his father passed in 1961.

“When Wuesteman started we were a timing station for the Illinois Central Railroad. The employees, lovingly called “Railheads”, all came in our store to have their watch inspected every month,” said John Reed. “So our business was built on watches, but today we don’t carry them. And our business is better for it.”

In Reed’s office, an energetically chaotic smattering of history and memories line the shelves and cover the walls. Framed photos of his beloved pets that have passed, family members and the original storefront of A. E. Wuesteman Jewelers on Main St. in Champaign hang on the walls. His wife and daughter feature prominently on the frames sitting on his desk, and he smiles fondly at the memory of meeting his wife, Maureen, for the first time on a flight in 1971.

“It was between New York City and San Juan, on my way to my store in the Virgin Islands and she was my flight attendant...She had switched with her coworkers to be in my section and we talked the whole time,” said Reed. “At one point she told me to move over so she could sit in the empty seat next to me. Eventually, and it was like an out of body experience, my mouth just went and said, ‘Would you like to have dinner with me?’ She said yes and we were married a year and a half later. It's now been 45 years.”

But as time passed, the business consolidated its locations and efforts into the storefront on Kirby and an office in Chicago, a much more manageable operation for Reed. His focus now is on uniqueness and the type of quality you can’t get from machine manufactured jewelry you’d find at Tiffany’s or other commercial jewelers.

“The biggest changes I’ve seen in the last 45-50 years is our ability as an industry to personalize things and make them more the way you want. We can do the manufacturing to please the customer,” said Reed. “I think people are enjoying the ability to be able to put their own personal stamp on what's being made for them.”

Technology has been a big driver towards that ability to completely customize a piece of jewelry for customers, according to Reed.

“Today we use the iPad to draw up sketches, import materials and parts,” said Reed. “The computer age has made a difference. We can take images from Pinterest, from anywhere that a

customer finds, and I can have my shop in Chicago build out wax model of the custom piece. So a customer can look at a wax model of their ring and say, ‘I want the halo bigger' or 'I want it octagonal', or whatever they want.”

Reed talks about his work with a youthful enthusiasm and aged wisdom. Bits and pieces of the places he’s been, the people he’s talked to and made deals with are lain throughout his office. And boxes and boxes of various jewels are stacked on every surface. Reed’s education includes a degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and The Gemological Institute of America, or GIA, a nonprofit institute dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. He has the lessons of his father, the stability of a higher education and decades of his own experience to inform every piece he creates and sells today. This is what has helped M. J. Reed Jewelers to serve so many people in the area and to have thrived for so long.

“I regularly get people who come in, where we’re serving, in some families, the 5th or 6th generation,” said Reed.

Reed’s expertise is not only used for buying and selling jewels, he is also called on frequently by local law enforcement and government officials to provide everything from appraisals for bankruptcy trustees to identification for stolen jewels. His experience allows him to identify the individual differences in a particular gem, including the carat, weight, cut, color and clarity of the stone.

“Everytime I look at a diamond, they’re all different. Just like people, they’re all different,” said Reed.

One instance of identifying a stone for a customer stands out in particular for Reed. A woman had come in with a diamond looking for it to be appraised. Reed examined the piece and gave her an estimated price and sent her on her way. A couple weeks later, seemingly unconnected, a man came in looking to sell a diamond and Reed noticed the man looked like he may be on drugs. He declined to purchase the diamond and the man left.

“Ten days later, a couple of my detective friends come in with an evidence bag and say, ‘Can you identify this?’,” said Reed. “And I go ‘What am I looking for, what do you think this is? Well, apparently, a woman had advertised a diamond in the local paper, and a guy shows up to see it. With a gun. Well, she gave him the stone, of course.”

After hearing this, Reed remembered the man who came in trying to sell a diamond and described the man to the detectives.

“I said, ‘Does that sound like somebody you might think for this?’ The detectives said, ‘Oh we’ll be back within the hour,’” said Reed. “So they come back an hour later with a photo array of mugshots. They asked, ‘Do you see that individual here?’ and I said, ‘Yeah that’s the guy right there.’”

“A week later I get a call to go to the county jail to look at a lineup. I went over there and there’s the young lady I did the initial appraisal for,” said Reed. “I picked the same guy from the photos out of the lineup. I had to go and testify in that case, and he ended up getting twenty years with no parole for armed robbery.”

But while the appraisals, IRS, bankruptcy work and even police investigations are a fascinating part of the job, the jewelry business has also led Reed to many interesting people, both business associates and friends. Two of those people are Shad and Ann Khan, who in addition to being dear friends are the reason for Reed’s longtime membership to the Urbana Country Club.

“I’ve known the Khans for years and I was at a cocktail party in LA when I ran into them," said Reed. "He had just bought the Club and when I asked him what he was going to do with the property he said he was going to turn it into the finest country club in downstate Illinois, if not in the Chicago area. They insisted I join and I couldn’t say no after that.”

When asked what his favorite part of the Country Club is, Reed’s immediate response was: “The people, the staff. The food is always good, of course. But if Chef Noe wasn’t good, then food wouldn’t be good. So I’d have to say the staff is the most important characteristic.”

“I’m extremely grateful for the Khans, and I thank them when I see them, for investing the money in something that is so great for the community.”