Farewell, Henry Birks and Sons / Maison Birks

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

Henry Birks and Sons / Maison Birks announced that it is closing its Winnipeg store at the end of the month after 120 years.

Montreal-based Birks opened here in 1903 on Main Street in a building located across the from its current store and has been a fixture in the city, mostly in the downtown, ever since.

Here's a look back at the company's local history.

Top: Morris Block, 350-352 Main, in the 1880s
Bottom: July 23, 1903, Winnipeg Tribune

Henry Birks and Sons, diamond and gem merchants, first opened in Winnipeg on Monday, July 20, 1903 in the Morris Block at 350-352 Main Street. This was their third store after Montreal, (its headquarters where it made most of its jewellery), and Ottawa. Prior to that, local shoppers could order jewellery, silverware, fine china and other high-end items from the Birks catalogue. 

An advertorial that appeared in the Winnipeg Tribune after the store opened noted: “The first sight into the jewellery store of Henry Birks and Sons is bewildering, so many sparkling rarities meet the eye at once.” 

Business was good as the city boomed financially and the company soon needed larger premises. It bought the former YMCA building at 276 - 278 Portage Avenue at Smith Street and in April 1910 was granted a $20,000 building permit for a complete renovation of the building.

The work included a new facade that featured Egyptian-themed terra cotta artwork.

Portage Avenue Birks store, R. McInnes Postcard Collection

The new store opened to the public on Wednesday, October 5, 1910.

It is unclear if the renovations or the condition of the building were not to Birks' liking. In December 1911, the Winnipeg Tribune reported that the company wanted to demolish the building and in its place construct a ten-storey office block with a store on the main floor. There was no follow-up story as to why the new building did not go ahead.

The 1912 street directory shows the new store had a staff of around 30 people under manager Walter M. Carson. They included office staff, shippers, printers, delivery drivers, jewellers, watchmakers, engravers and clock makers.

Street directory entries also show that most of the sales floor staff that year were women. Sales clerks included Loretta Cochrane, Elizabeth Crawford, Violet Bewley, Ida Koehn, Bessie Masters and Mrs. Crosby. The cashiers were Martha Gilmore and Marle Jackson. The bookkeeper was C. Alice Walker.

Subsequent directories show that there was additional upper floor office space in the building that was be leased out. In 1916, both North American Life Assurance and Central Detective Services of Canada were located there.

March 5, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

Birks' Winnipeg operation amalgamated with Porte and Markle in May 1913. This is after its Montreal, Ottawa and new Toronto stores each made a similar partnership with a local firm in those cities. The two storefronts merged to the 278 Portage Avenue location early the following year.

It is unclear how the amalgamation worked financially as Birks' Winnipeg ads included the tag "Porte and Markle, Managing Directors" until 1921. That's the year Markle retired from the business and moved to Vancouver. Porte stayed on as the vice-president of Winnipeg's Birks store until he left around 1925 to become president of Winnipeg's Tourist and Convention Bureau.

October 31, 1933, Winnipeg Tribune

Birks resumed calling itself Henry Birks and Sons until 1933 when it amalgamated with another long-time local jeweller and became known as Birks-Dingwall.

Scottish-born David R. Dingwall came to Winnipeg in 1882 and opened a jewellery store on Main Street across from city hall. D. R. Dingwall Ltd. was incorporated in 1900. When D. R. died in 1913, son Donald W. Dingwall took over the business.

The two companies amalgamated in 1933 under the Birks-Dingwall name and in 1947 the company was registered as Henry Birks and Sons Manitoba Ltd. with D. W. Dingwall as president. When D. W. died in 1935, son David C. Dingwall took over as president until his retirement in 1973. (This photo shows D. C. and descendants of Henry Birks at the Winnipeg store in 1969.)

Birks did an extensive remodelling of the store in 1952 that included  enclosing much of the main floor showroom windows with Tyndall stone tile to give it a more modern look.

October 3, 1968, Winnipeg Tribune

The late 1960s were an important time for Birks  in Winnipeg.

In 1967, they produced the gold, silver and bronze medals presented at the Pan Am Games and the following year came a second location.

The store at the newly renovated and enclosed Polo Park Shopping Centre opened on October 4, 1968 and introduced Birks to a whole new range of shoppers that might not otherwise visit their Portage Avenue store.

The mall experience proved so positive that in the 1970s Birks opened stores in Unicity Fashion Square and St. Vital Centre.

When Portage Place Mall was being constructed, Birks opted to leave their stand-alone Portage Avenue store in favour of a large space on the mall's main floor. It had an entrance from the mall at the front and to The Promenade at the rear. (The space has since been home to McNally Robinson Bookstore and Service Canada.)

January 12, 1933, Winnipeg Free Press

The company's rapid expansion in the 1970s was met by a recession in the early 1980s and a worse one in the early 1990s. In January 1993, the company had to suddenly close 70 of its 150 stores across the country in a bid to save itself from bankruptcy.

In Winnipeg, this meant shuttering the Portage Place and St. Vital stores, (the Unicity store had already closed), in favour of the Polo Park location. Also closed were three O. B. Allan Jeweller mall stores that Birks also controlled.

The Polo Park location managed to survive the restructuring of the company and Birks remained a fixture there until January 2008 when it let its lease run out and relocated to the newly renovated former banking hall in the National Bank building at Portage and Lombard.

The new store location was across the street from its original store in the Morris Block which was demolished in 1974.

November 15, 1952, Winnipeg Tribune

Birks isn't leaving Winnipeg entirely. It has again created a partnership with a long-time Winnipeg jeweller - Independent Jewellers founded in 1937 - which will sell Birks items.

Also see:
Birks jewellers closes in Winnipeg Observations, Reservations, Conversations

Related:
The Egyptian-themed artwork on the former Birks Building West End Dumplings
The Porte and Markle Diamond Robbery of 1906 (Coming soon!)