Britton Jewelers was started by Lowell and Ruth Britton on 
August 27, 1943 at 19 Sims Street in downtown Dickinson. 
It soon outgrew this location and in September 1949, it 
opened a newly remodeled store at 20 First Avenue West. In 
addition to the store, Lowell Britton ran a trade shop upstairs
from 1948 to 1958. He had about 30 to 40 stores sending
him repair work from several states. Britton Jewelers was
purchased in 1965 from Lowell Britton by Emil & Lewista
Trzynka. Emil & Lewista completely remodeled and added
the second half, which was the Dickinson Liquor Store, in 
November of 1973. Emil Trzynka was elected to the Board
of the North Dakota Jewelers Association in 1967 and 
President in 1973. In 1974, Terry and Anita Trzynka
purchased Britton Jewelers from Emil and Lewista 
Trzynka. Terry was elected to the Board of the North Dakota
Jewelers Association in 1975. In April 1972, Terry and Anita
opened the Hettinger branch of Britton Jewelers. In 1976, 
Terry sold the Hettinger branch of Britton's which is still 
open today. In October 1997, Terry and Anita sold the store 
to Mike and Sandy Storley. Since the change in ownership,
Mike and Sandy have added new product lines and also 
relocated the store to 448 21st St W. On September 26, 1999
 the new location opened for business. The new location was 
double in size of the downtown location. 

Perhaps I was born 40 years to soon, as I so would have enjoyed the time when a watchmaker was honored for his skill in keeping the pocket watches running and I could feel the pride that older watchmakers had in being diligent and skilled with anything that had to do with the building or maintenance of a watch. I still remember the thrill that Lowell Britton recalled when getting the first NP railroad corrected by Western Union Clock. The way it worked is this: the telegraph wires were connected to this clock and every so often a signal went out which would correct this clock to the correct seconds. This gave us the ultimate accuracy in setting watches not only for the NP railroad but for the whole town. Undoubtedly, this would have been even more important to me had I been born at the turn of the century as it is my understanding that the Jewelry store was the place where many came to set their time and hence the time of the community.

It has been a pleasure working in an industry that has provided a product that people use to mark a special occasion or as a gift for someone to whom they want to show affection or lasting love. So, the fact that I was trained in watch making was soon relegated to a secondary status as I found that Jewelry was more important if I wanted to feed my young family. My training in Jewelry was first given to me by my father, Emil Trzynka, and later by a corporation called Jewelmont. If we wanted to remain the foremost Jewelry store I realized that we would have to have the best training in repair and gemology. Thus began a long line of firsts. We not only had the first gemological training with regular updates in diamond appraisal but also were the first to take a course in Jewelry Design and the simple water casting of gold soon was followed by designing and casting our own jewelry.

The store that love built was now the store that can build the design for your love. The all-important Keepsake diamond started to give way to precision cut diamonds directly from Africa. What a change. Another first- Ideal Cut diamonds, sometimes today they are called many things- hearts and arrows, Tolkowsky specification style diamond and many other names. There are even diamonds that try to give the same impression such as cut by gauge or cut to the highest standards, etc. The public is smart and now that the completed domination of the DeBeers diamond cartel is over, it is even more important that the consumer know and respect the knowledge of the Jeweler. How else would one be satisfied that you are buying a quality product from the right source at the right price.

I am proud of the many firsts Britton Jewelers has had- the first Bulova, the first Seiko, the first Keepsake, the first Ideal Cut diamond directly from its source in Africa, the first diamonds direct from Antwerp, the first Jewelry design department, but I am more proud of Britton Jewelers' continued effort in keeping the best quality and service to the customer at a fair price. I hope that this is a part of my legacy.

- Terrance Trzynka

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