Shop marks 60 years

In 1950, Patrick Tracy and his wife Norann opened up Tracy Jewelers on the northeast corner of Sprague Avenue and Argonne Road. He focused mainly on selling and repairing watches.

This year, his daughter, Maureen Tracy, 58, will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the store, now at 106 N. Evergreen Road.

In the years after Patrick Tracy first opened the store, he and his wife raised 10 children, along with expanding his business which would someday be what it is today – a jewelry store specializing in custom designed pieces, designer pieces and bridal and engagement sets.

They don’t carry watches anymore.

“Dad was very well liked,” Maureen Tracy said. “He was a friend. He was always a friend.” Patrick Tracy died in 1988.

Tracy said she remembers working in the store when she was young, starting when she would ride her bike to the store to bring her father lunch when she was 10 years old. She would get a dime from her father for the chore. All of her brothers and sisters worked there at one time or another.

In fact, her brother, Leo, purchased the business from his parents in 1975. Maureen bought it from Leo in 1993.

When Patrick Tracy started the business, he had one part-time employee and Norann kept the books at night after the children went to bed. Today, Tracy has seven full-time employees.

Tracy said computers have changed the way the family does business. Customers often shop or research the products online before they come in to the store.

“A lot of times, they want a custom piece,” she said. A full-time employee designs jewelry for customers using a computer-aided design program. The process takes several steps and customers can get their rings in two to three weeks.

She said that the process is better today, since molds were hand carved into wax back in the 1960s for custom designs and the pieces often weren’t symmetrical when they were completed.

Tracy said she most enjoys working with diamonds, looking at them through a microscope, buying them and helping customers get a good value for their money. She said the customers make the job a lot of fun for her.

“It’s always a wonderful occasion,” she said, noting that her customers usually have a happy reason for coming to the store.

The store has been family owned since it opened in 1950, and Tracy is approaching the age when she is starting to think about retirement. She hopes that another family member or an employee will step up to become the next generation of jewelers.

To celebrate the milestone year, Tracy has purchased many pieces of jewelry from other jewelry stores at auction to sell in September. She is still working out when the dates for the sale will be.

“The prices are fabulous,” she said.