Peter Dykie’s Bradford Jewellery store donated 5 percent of its sales over the weekend to A Bradford Christmas campaign, cutting a cheque for $1,000 to the organizers who are collecting for the Helping Hand Food Bank’s holiday hamper program.
Sisters Emily and Sarah Dahlgren, founders of A Bradford Christmas, hung out with Dykie and his staff on Saturday afternoon as customers poured in looking for special Christmas gifts for their loved ones.
Sarah also celebrated her seventeenth birthday during the fundraiser at the jewellery store.
Dykie hired the sisters to decorate the store prior to the fundraising-weekend and supplied all the Christmas decorations for them to transform the store into a winter-wonderland which added to the ‘sparkle’ of the jewellery.
Dykie has owned the store since the early ’80s and originally started in the jewellery business at the young age of 16 selling chains out of his high school locker.
“I didn’t have any money back then to buy a proper scale to weigh the gold,” remembers Dykie. “So, I used a scale from the science department to weigh the gold and put price tags on them."
After high school, Dykie attended Humber College and George Brown College where he completed his courses in business and jewellery before purchasing and opening Bradford Jewellery in 1984.
Just one year later, Dykie decided to run for town council and won, making him the youngest councillor with the town of Bradford at the age of 18.
Bradford Jewellery provides a full range of jewellery repairs and maintenance, from cleanings and polishings to tightening and resizing. Dykie also does appraisals and buys back old jewellery and gold for cash.
“It’s really hard to find gold chains right now,” states Marisa Gutta, a staff member at Bradford Jewellery. “Because of Covid and slowed production, there have been delays in shipments."
Gutta adds that diamond earrings have also been a popular seller right now, as well as the Bulova watches.
Dykie recently hired a goldsmith who works in the back of the store doing repairs and castings for custom orders, as well as polishings and steam cleanings.
The store has extended hours leading up to Christmas and Dykie welcomes customers to visit the store in person to help find the right gift for that special someone in your life.
Anyone looking to donate to A Bradford Christmas fundraiser can do so directly via electronic money transfer at [email protected]
The Dahlgren sisters currently sit at $15K of their $50K goal, and a reminder that their online silent auction ends Monday, Dec. 7 at midnight. To check out their silent auction, visit: A Bradford Christmas (auctria.com)
