This jewelry store grew with Main Street. Now, it's moved to an appropriately historic space | Streetwise

Daphne Lemke
Fond du Lac Reporter
Argentum et Aurum Jewelry store owner Monica Lara works on a ring at her store's worktable on Jan. 21, 2021. The downtown Fond du Lac store recently moved into a bigger space at 111 S. Main St.

FOND DU LAC – A downtown jewelry store has settled into a new historic space that fits the vintage aesthetic of the treasures inside.

Argentum et Aurum closed its doors at 25 N. Main St. in January, but is ready to welcome back customers in its bigger space for a grand re-opening Friday at 111 S. Main St.

Originally opened at the end of 2020, the store started with mainly hand-casted rings, necklaces and other jewels, crafted by owner Monica Lara, who makes her jewelry in a rustic style to look and feel ancient, as if the holder is in possession of pirate treasure or some other relic.

Her technique, called lost-wax casting, is to make a form out of wax and create a mold out of it to fill with silver or gold, and several pieces are embedded with precious stones.

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Lara used to be a biologist and professor in Florida with her jewelry business on the side. When she moved to Fond du Lac in 2020, the community was right in the middle of both a classic Wisconsin winter and the pandemic.

"When my shop opened in the midst of (COVID-19) I was surrounded by empty shop fronts," Lara said. "I believed that downtown Fond du Lac was too much of an overlooked treasure not to come back in a significant way."

As activity grew downtown over the next two years, Argentum et Aurum also grew a following in the community and beyond, and added clothing, perfume, decor and other gifts.

With the rise in traffic and business doing well, the time felt right to transition from renting a storefront to owning her own space, she said. So, she moved to an Italianate-style building: new to her, but built in 1890.

Argentum et Aurum, 111 S, Main St., is settling in to a larger, more historical space in downtown Fond du Lac that complements the vintage feel of the jewelry and other gifts inside.

"I believed in my business enough that I wanted my own space with the old-time charm that embodies my aesthetic," she said.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation's Main Street Bounceback Grant and downtown events contributed to more businesses opening and more people checking out not just Lara's store, but all of downtown, Lara said.

She said her move was possible because of the grant, and in his Jan. 4 visit to Fond du Lac, Gov. Tony Evers stopped at Argentum et Aurum, and then shared her success story — and Fond du Lac's — in his 2023 State of the State address.

Monica Lara, center, received a visit from Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez Jan. 4 after her business, Argentum et Aurum received the Main Street Bounceback grant to relocate to a larger space down the street.

In the address, he said Lara took a chance opening her store, believing shops would fill in around her in five to 10 years; but now, only two years later, her shop is surrounded by many new businesses that put down roots in Fond du Lac.

"When I visited Monica's shop, she told me 'I could never have done this in Florida or California,' and she's probably right," he said in the address. "Even four years ago, this dream might not have been possible in Wisconsin, either."

Argentum et Aurum will be open 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information and updates, visit the Argentum et Aurum Jewelry Facebook page.

Contact Daphne Lemke at dlemke@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @daphlemke.