Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers store planned for downtown Marriott project

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers plans to open a store in the proposed downtown Marriott hotel project, southwest of Wisconsin Avenue and North Milwaukee Street.
Schwanke-Kasten currently has two locations at 763 N. Broadway downtown and in Whitefish Bay.
Tom Dixon, the president and co-owner of Schwanke-Kasten, said he has not decided yet whether or not the store in the Marriott hotel would replace the Broadway store. However, he said the new store would probably be a replacement for the existing store.
The downtown Schwanke-Kasten store opened in 2007. The store did strong business until the Great Recession hit and has done “OK,” since then, Dixon said. The Broadway store lease expires in 2012 and that store will remain open at least until then, he said.
“We’ll see how the economy bounces around in 2012,” Dixon said. “If we really get going again like we were the first year I might open an additional store (in the hotel). My guess is the (hotel store) is going to be a replacement.”
The hotel store will be smaller, about 800 square feet, compared to the Broadway store, which has about 1,700 square feet. The store will be located in the first floor of the hotel, either on Wisconsin Avenue or on Milwaukee Street. Dixon said he has an option to select which street to put the store on.
“I tend to think Wisconsin Avenue, but that hasn’t been decided yet,” he said.
Schwanke-Kasten is the only official Rolex store in Milwaukee County, Dixon said.
The 200-room Marriott hotel project would also include a restaurant, meeting and banquet space, and other amenities.