In December 2000, Al Gore conceded the Presidential election to George W. Bush, Motown’s Material Girl Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie, and Joseph and Amy Molfese opened Bella Cosa Jewelers in Willowbrook, Ill.
Unlike the pop singer’s marriage (sorry, Madge), the Molfese partnership is still going strong. The couple had gotten hitched only a week before they opened their doors, and now they are celebrating 25 years in business this month.
Since then, the couple have raised four children and opened a second location in Wilmette. They celebrated Bella Cosa’s anniversary with a holiday party and are looking forward to opening an additional Chicagoland location in 2026.
“Back then, we lived with my parents, we ate a lot of pasta, and we drove 40 miles every day to work. It was a lot of sacrifice along the way,” Joseph says.
The couple met when Amy was still in college. Joseph was attending a wedding, and Amy performed a solo song during the ceremony.
“I knew right then I needed to meet that girl,” Joseph recalls. “A friend of mine introduced us, but she wasn’t interested in a long-distance relationship because she was moving to Austria. Somehow, I persuaded her to date.”
They married Nov. 25, and those months before they wed were first spent finding a store location and then persuading the landlord to take a chance on them, Joseph says. One famous Chicago landlord took Joseph’s call on a vacant space, requested an in-person meeting, and then gave them a lease based on Joseph’s cajoling.
Where was Amy? “I was still circling the block. We didn’t want to pay for parking,” she laughs.
They put up drywall, painted, and prepped the space for a jewelry store—all done with funds from his parents and their then–maxed out credit cards. Joseph admits he thought about doing the electrical until the city told him to hire an electrician instead.
When they opened their doors Dec. 4, 2000, Joseph did much of that work himself while Amy did the paperwork and accounting. Amy joined the local chamber of commerce and talked up the business. When they had their first child, the baby came to the store, they say.
Today, Bella Cosa is a full-service jeweler that does custom design, on-site repairs, and appraisals. The stores carry brands including Oscar Heyman, Phillips House, Tacori, and Hearts on Fire. Two things have made them a success, Joseph says: the strength of their marriage and the quality of their employees.
“We have complementary skill sets. I have a background in sales and I’m a certified gemologist,” Joseph says. Amy adds: “I have a business background and know accounting. I like numbers.”
Working together made sense—after all, they were commuting far together until buying their own home in 2002.
“We’re together all of the time, dealing with the same issues, working through things together,” Joseph says. “That’s the epitome of marriage. You need to be on the same page.”
Amy agrees. “It’s almost easier when you have someone you can talk to who understands. They know the stressors.”
Customers also enjoyed that they were a married couple and everyone watched their children grow up at the store. (Their oldest son now works in the business as well.)
Another reason the business has thrived, Joseph says: great employees. “We’re fortunate to have employees who work as hard as we work. They care about the business, whether it is in sales, on the bench, or in marketing,” Joseph says. “They help push the business to the next level because of that kind of care.”
Top: Amy and Joseph Molfese married just days before opening their first jewelry store together; today, Bella Cosa has two locations and is celebrating 25 years in business. (Photos courtesy of Bella Cosa)
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