Emily Patrick

epatrick@citizen-times.com

Eva-Michelle Spicer winds the clock on the corner of Otis Street and Patton Avenue every Tuesday and Friday. Inside its green pedestal, a pendulum keeps time for everyone who enters Asheville from the west.

Her father wound that clock, and so did her grandfather. It's not a duty she's giving up anytime soon, even though the associated jewelry store is in the throes of a renovation

In August, the building that housed Wick & Greene Jewelers will reopen as Spicer Greene Jewelers.

Spicer, whose grandfather Paul Greene became a partner in the jewelry store in 1953, will remain at the helm with her husband.

Wick & Greene's closing sale was successful, Spicer said, in that it provided enough funds for a complete restoration of the 1932 building and the iconic clock.

"That was one of those things we weren't quite sure, but the sale went really well," she said. "We were are able to reinvest that into this landmark and its contents."

The new jewelry business will include an expanded showroom — more than double the size of the old one — and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that mimic the bay doors that were originally part of the building, which was built as a gas station. Historic tile, hidden beneath drywall until now, will become part of the new interior design.

"It's much more open, light and airy, much more approachable, and we're adding to our product mix to be the same," Spicer said. "We'll have pieces starting at $30."

Greene will provide a large selection of high end colored stones, just as Wick & Greene did, and it will expand its diamond business. It will provide the largest selection of loose diamonds in the state, Spicer said.

An engagement bar will allow couples to match stones with settings and play a role in the jewelry creation process.

"You come in, and it's a totally customizable experience," Spicer said. "The engagement bar is a much more hands on engagement ring experience."

The new shopping environment is designed with millennial tastes in mind, she said.

Renovation is nothing new for the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Spicer's parents renovated 30 years ago, and she predicts her children — in the abstract, as she doesn't have any — will reinvent the store again one day.

Wick & Greene Jewelers closing; plans for building, clock