Freedom to chase your passions in life has been a cornerstone of Middleton Jewelers since its owner Manny Soin was told by his then girlfriend, and now wife, “You can do whatever you want.”
Middleton Jewelers, 6629 University Ave STE 104, Middleton, will celebrate its 13th anniversary tomorrow. The jewelry shop plans to have a soiree with unique items for sale, giveaways and highlight its recent win for the best statement piece from the INSTORE Design Awards — one of the most prestigious jewelry design competitions in North America — that was created by Soin and his son.
Soin was on a path to become a doctor. It wasn’t necessarily what he wanted to do, but his father was a prestigious doctor, researcher and lecturer who authored work on nuclear cardiology. He was the youngest of four and was the last hope for one to follow in his father’s footsteps.
But it was his then girlfriend, Madhu, at UW-Madison, whom he later married, that changed his life’s trajectory.
“She was a breath of fresh air. She was like, ‘You can do what you want.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow. I’ve never heard that statement in my life before,” Soin said.
A weight was lifted from his shoulders. He decided that he didn’t want to become a doctor. Soin jumped into retail sales in multiple different industries. He sold ads during the Dot Com era under “madisonwi.com” where he would go door to door to local businesses to get their advertisements online. He worked at AT&T, took over Stanton Optical on Madison’s West Side, had a short stint as a DJ and finally got into banking.
“I didn’t care. I just loved him for him,” Madhu said. “We came from pretty strict families, Punjabi, so we’re all about freedom and doing what you love. Do what makes you happy.”
Soin would later find himself in gold-buying with a former business partner, which would be his informal introduction into what would later become Middleton Jewelers. They would purchase jewelry and melt it down for the gold to sell. However, something clicked with jewelry that stemmed from his childhood.
“My mom … she probably had enough jewelry to fill up all the cases that I have here,” Soin said. “My dad loved to buy her jewelry. Whenever we would travel, he would always have a loupe (a jeweler’s magnifying tool) in his pocket. If we went to India, stop in London or Abu Dhabi, he would meet with a jeweler and design a piece for my mom, and I was always with him.”
Sometime into his gold buying venture, Soin realized that there was some more money to be made than simply buying and melting down jewelry to sell the gold.
“There’s stuff that you can send to melt, but there’s stuff that you could sell for more, like estate pieces,” Soin said. “We started doing a lot more gold buying around the tri-state area, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and gold was at its all-time high at the time, and then it crashed.”
Soin figured it was time to make a decision for his future. He decided that he should open his own store.
On July 24, 2013, a date Soin remembers well because it was Madhu’s birthday, they took a trip out to Verona to look at a potential location for a shop.
“It was 10 in the morning, and I knew I only had a few hours to get stuff done,” Soin said. “We went over there, and this real estate agent, super southern drawl, I was like, ‘We’re looking to open up a jewelry store. Where would you recommend we start?’”
Soin, in his best southern accent, recalled the real estate agent telling them, “I reckon you should just go down to Middleton. They got this one store that’s going out of business. He’s closing because he’s sick. You should check it out. I think it’s kismet.”
The store they ended up purchasing was Terry Jewelers, which had been there for 32 years. Its former owner, Steve Terry, agreed to sell his business, support Soin, bring in his customer base and serve as a mentor.
Soin was sure that he could make the business work. They had $25,000 pumped into the business to get Kismet ready with some remodeling, cases for jewelry and inventory made up of stainless steel and sterling silver at the time.
Around the same time, Madhu was about to finish her PhD while their 4-year-old daughter Kimaya was diagnosed with celiac disease.
“We went from her income with having insurance to no income from her side and running the business. You eat what you got,” Soin said.
Soin still aimed to press on despite new challenges. Success did follow, but the shop was hit hard by road construction and later the COVID-19 pandemic.
Construction in 2017 closed off street access to Middleton Jewelers. Lack of access means people are less likely to come to the store. Soin decided to start “Free Lunch Fridays” at the store to get the community out there. That helped the business continue its growth and the following year saw a solid recovery, Soin said. The same thing happened in 2019, so Middleton Jewelers relaunched Free Lunch Fridays.
COVID was an eye opener for Soin, he said. The store shut down for four months, his business partner was pretty checked out and his mother became very ill.
The end results of the pandemic saw Soin and his business partner ultimately separating while he retained control of Middleton Jewelers. That time proved to be a turning point for Soin to make his next steps.
The business became even more of a family venture. The logo changed, Madhu and Kimaya worked on that, and the family wanted to embrace more of its Desi heritage in the store’s design and philosophy.
“We wanted something that represents being proud and strong and beautiful and majestic. So we have a white tiger and lotus,” Madhu said.
“Where did a lot of the most beautiful jewels come from? Our neck of the woods,” Soin said in reference to jewels like the Hope Diamond, Koh-i-Noor and Star of India.
All of that has culminated into freedom — which Soin and his wife pass on to their children.
Their daughter Kimaya has excelled in education and is now attending UW-Madison at just 16 years old. She started a fundraiser to fight celiac disease that has raised around $50,000 so far.
Their son Esh has a strong acumen for entrepreneurship. Esh has his own business trading Pokémon cards, Esh Cardz, that has earned him his first $1 million in sales before he turned 16..
Soin and his on also worked together on the statement piece that won the award from INSTORE Design. The piece married Soin’s passion for jewelry and Esh’s for Pokémon.
It features vintage Charizard Pocket Monsters — the original name of Pokémon before it was shortened for international branding — card encased with a gold frame adorned with 11.52 total carats of rubies and eight total carats of diamonds. The piece has been dubbed the “Grail Frame.” The Grail Frame has been featured on a live stream with Logan Paul and Ken Goldin.
“That was amazing. It was a product of father-son passion coming together, merging their passions,” Soin said. “I never would have made this thing if it wasn’t for what he’s doing. I loved collecting cards when I was younger, like basketball, baseball, football, whatever. But when he got into Pokémon, I was trying to get excited again about the card business.”
Middleton Jewelers has capitalized on the growing interest of trading cards and jewelry niche to create a new line of products called “The MJ Vault.” They describe it as “Not a holder. A vault you can wear,” with valuable pieces securely fitted in gold or sterling silver on a necklace.
Now as Middleton Jewelers’ 13th anniversary approaches, they want to invite the community to celebrate.
It will host a “Gilded Estate Soirée,” complete with a red carpet, signature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and gourmet crepes by Madison crepe truck Crepuw. A curated selection of estate jewelry that has never before been seen in the store, will be on display along with, giveaways, estate evaluations, gold buying, trade-ins for vintage cards and jewelry redesigns.
The soirée will be held Aug. 8 from 3-7 p.m. It is free to attend; registration is requested.
