Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Fifteen years ago, Ellen Bretz secured a tax ID number for the shop that she and her daughter, Robin, longed to own. But it took the retirement of Sue Lombardo, the former owner of Recycled Rose in Glendale, to spur them into action by opening The Jeweled Cottage (421 N. Sappington, 314-966-9994, thejeweledcottage.com).
Robin spied Recycled Rose’s closing sign first. “I was literally the first person to call, and that’s how we got [the location],” she says. “There were people lined up behind us who were offering to pay her more money, but she had already committed to us.”
And so the adventure began.
Robin’s teenage daughter, Kate Wehrman, named the shop after Ellen’s mother, Jewel, affectionately known as Tippy, who passed away last January at the age of 90. Once the Bretzes had the lease, they looked more closely at the shop. “The building had been unloved for several years, so there were a lot of structural issues,” says Robin. “The bathroom almost fell through the floor. I’m married to an engineer, so when you get into it, it’s like, ‘Well, that’s gotta go. That has to be redone.’ Then, the next thing you know, you’re replacing all your lighting, all your plumbing, and some of the floor joists that were rotted through.”
Today, the shop is filled with furniture, accessories, and gifts—an eclectic mixture that ranges in style from hip (wing chairs upholstered in the Union Jack, $1,041 each) to offbeat (a cat-in-a-cage lamp, $119) to just plain fun (tin whales, $73.50 each). The prices start as low as $5. Robin (who previously worked at RSI Kitchen & Bath and Karr-Bick Kitchen + Bath) also offers kitchen-and-bath design services. The shop’s powder room serves as an example of her expertise. “We really want it to be a neighborhood store,” she says. “I would like to have a kitchen display that is a working kitchen and do girl parties.”
From going to market to figuring out pricing, the Bretz women are learning along the way. “We are doing this ignorantly blind,” Ellen says. She grins. “These should be my retirement years, but it’s not working out that way. I’m working now more than I ever did before. What’s wrong with me?”
