For the past 34 years, Bradford Jewellery by Peter Dykie has been a hallmark to the downtown core of Bradford West Gwillimbury.
Located at the northeast corner of Simcoe Road and Holland Street, the store is owned by Peter Dykie Jr. and has been in the same location since it opened in April 1985.
Prior to the grand opening of the store, Dykie said he actually sold jewellery out his locker at Bradford District High School with his then business partner, Jim MacDonald Jr.
“In high school, I had seen people overpaying for jewellery and I thought I could provide better quality and better prices for the public,” he said.
His mother ran the store in the daytime while he attended high school. When he was done his day at school, he would go straight to the store to work.
“We had three stores open back then: one here, one in Barrie, and one in Aurora,” he said.
In the early 1990s, he bought out his business partner, closed the other stores, and kept the Bradford shop open.
He enjoys his shop’s location at the four corners and said by staying there, as opposed to moving to a newer part of town, he is able to offer his customers better prices.
“Here, we specialize in custom jewellery,” he explained.
Dykie carries a lot of name-brand jewellery, including Persona, Chamilia, Swarovski, Citizen, and, most recently, Thomas Sabo, but his main focus has always been custom pieces.
“I love getting to be creative every day and making custom pieces for people,” he said. Family rings, engagement rings and wedding bands are just some of his specialties.
In order to get the custom work that customers desire, Dykie has various high-tech machines, including a 3D model and laser machine on the premises.
“We are always looking to bump up our technology and looking for better methods of making custom pieces,” he said.
Dykie’s clientele consists of longtime regulars, even some who travel as far as Sault Ste. Marie, as well as new residents.
He and his staff of three also use social media in order to draw in the younger generation of jewellery shoppers. The store has monthly contests on their Facebook page which gives followers a chance to win a selected piece of jewellery.
Every year in August, Bradford pays homage to its roots with Carrot Fest, a festival for local businesses and others to celebrate with vendors, food and entertainment in the downtown core.
At this year’s festival, Braford Jewellery had an Instagram contest where customers had to post a photo of themselves with a large cardboard cutout of a carrot and include a hashtag of the store.
Dykie even created his own custom carrot charms to sell at the festival. Only 50 were made to commemorate the event.
When he is not busy running the store, Dykie attends to other town matters as a councillor for Ward 7 in the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury.
He is well known in the town and said he enjoys dealing with the public.
Bradford Jewellery is open seven days a week and welcomes all new and existing customers.
Anyone can check out the store at 5 Holland St. E., or on Facebook.
Midweek Mugging is a regular series profiling local businesses or interesting people in Bradford West Gwillimbury. Want to be featured? Email [email protected].
