Page 22 - The Peorian Vol 3 Issue 1 Winter

22 thePeorian.com
ORIGINALITY
DEFINES PETTET
JEWELRY
By Paul Gordon
Specialty Retail: Jewelry
W alk into Pettet Jewelry
Designs Ltd. in Peoria
Heights and you are
struck by one thing: The store
beams with originality, from the
design and decor of the space to
the quality of the work produced
and sold there.
Owner Brad Pettet wants it no
other way.
“I have a unique store. It has
a personality you won’t find
anywhere else around here.
That’s how it is with the jewelry
we design and make. It’s unique
jewelry you won’t find anywhere
else,” Pettet, who moved into the
Pabst Building in Peoria Heights
a little more than a year ago.
“I took a risk being the first
retailer in the Pabst Building. It
has been only offices before this.
But I think it will be a risk worth
taking,” he said.
Other than having a door from
the street added and painting
the ceiling to look like “Starry
Night,” Pettet has kept the origi-
nal décor intact. “Part of the fun
of being in here is the reaction
of people when they walk in the
first time. They take about three
steps and freeze, wondering
where they are,” he said.
That’s because they are walk-
ing into what was the original
“33 Room” when the building,
constructed in 1945, housed the
offices of the Pabst brewery when
it was in Peoria Heights. The
original bar, taps, paneling and
the Pabst logo on the wall behind
the bar are still in place. There
is even a steel Pabst beer can on
display. It, however, was not
original to the “33 Room.”
That particular can, which
Pettet keeps under glass, was one
of his first ‘creations.’
“Before I made jewelry, I made
beer cans, like this old steel can
with an aluminum pop top. I
worked for the old Continental
Can Co. while in school,” he said,
referring to a company that made
and supplied cans to the brewery
before it closed.
But wasn’t what pushed Pettet
into the jewelry business. “I got
into jewelry because I needed a
job. It’s that simple. It went to
Garrett Jewelry and they hired
me,” he said.
After learning to make and
repair jewelry there and other
stores, including Moore’s Jewel-
ers and K’s Merchandise, Pettet
bought out Garrett on Sterling
Avenue in 1993.
“It came to me quickly. I ma-
jored in art sculpture in college
and really, it’s the same process.
Brad Pettet, owner of Pettet Jewelry Designs Ltd. in Peoria Heights, hold
the steel beer can he made while he was employed at Continental Can Co.
when he was younger. That company supplied cans to the Pabst brewery
that existed in the building where Pettet now operates his store.