Co-owners Mary Schenck and Barry Schenck are photographed at Highland Plaza inside M.M. Schenck Jeweler. After 44 years in business, the store will close this year on Christmas Eve.After Mary Schenck started M.M. Schenck Jeweler on Hixson Pike she went a decade without a paycheck.
Forty-four years ago the banks wouldn’t talk to her about a loan, and any money she made from selling jewelry or fixing jewelry went toward microscopes or training.
There were few women starting their own businesses in Chattanooga and even fewer in the jewelry business. But she was drawn to the gems. She loved how they were perfected in nature. All unique. So she set herself to knowing them inside and out, training for years.
She became the 11th woman to be qualified as a certified gemologist in the United States, and her store housed the first certified gem testing lab in the state, she said.
But on Christmas Eve, after nearly 50 years behind a jewelry store counter, she will finally go into retirement. And M.M. Schenck, which has sold to some families for three generations, will close its doors for good.