Birks Group Inc. (formerly Birks & Mayors Inc.) is a designer, manufacturer, and retailer of

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

timepieces A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

ware and gifts, with stores and manufacturing facilities located in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Group was created in November 2005 through the merger of Henry Birks and Sons Ltd. (Canada) and Mayors Jewelers Inc. (United States). The company is headquartered in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, with American corporate offices located in Tamarac, Florida.

History

Henry Birks and Sons

Birks-Ellis-Ryrie Jewellers Toronto 1920s

Birks Group traces its origins to the opening by

Henry Birks Henry Birks (30 November 1840 – 16 April 1928) was a Canadian businessman and founder of Henry Birks and Sons, a chain of high-end Canadian jewellery stores. He was born to English immigrants from Yorkshire, England. His parents moved to Ca ...

of a small jewellery shop in Montreal in 1879. With an investment of

CAD$ The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can ...

3,000, Henry Birks opened in 1879 a small jewellery shop on Saint James Street in the heart of Montreal's financial and commercial district. In 1893, Birks entered into a partnership with his three sons (William, John and

Gerald Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

), and the name of the firm became ''Henry Birks and Sons''. As the focus of Montreal's commercial centre moved northward towards

Saint Catherine Street Sainte-Catherine Street (french: rue Sainte-Catherine) () is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and de M ...

, the Birks store moved to new premises on Phillips Square in 1894, where the company still maintains a store and corporate offices. Starting in 1901, Birks oversaw the expansion of the company across Canada, with stores opening in the country's largest cities. In some cases, it bought local jewellers, adding its name to the local one (the Birks store in Toronto was Birks-Ryrie and the one in Winnipeg was Birks-Dingwall). The store on Phillips Square in Montreal opened in 1907. In 1934, Birks received a Royal Warrant of Appointment. In December 1934, Birks opened its first store in Vancouver. In 1954, the first Canadian shopping centre opened in

Dorval Dorval () is an on-island suburban city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has the largest surface area in Montré ...

and Birks is the first to open a jewelry store within a shopping centre. In 1953, Henry Birks and Sons bought out Roden Bros. Ltd., a company that produced silver hollowware, flatware, cut crystal, and medals. In 1955, the company successfully sued the City of Montreal before the Supreme Court of Canada for forcing it to close on Catholic holidays, in ''

Henry Birks & Sons (Montreal) Ltd v Montreal (City of) ''Henry Birks & Sons (Montreal) Ltd v Montreal (City of)'', 955S.C.R. 799 was an early constitutional decision of the Supreme Court of Canada where the Court struck down a provincial law permitting municipalities to pass by-laws for the closing of s ...

''.

Regaluxe Group

In 1993 Jonathan Birks sold the company to Italy-based Iniziativa Regaluxe SrL. The Birks Group is now publicly traded under the ticker symbol BGI. Square Phillips Montreal 53

In 2001, the company completely renovated its flagship store on Phillips Square in Montreal. In November 2005, Henry Birks and Sons Ltd. and the American Mayors Jewelers Inc. merged to create the Birks & Mayors Group. In 2007, Birks was named as the official supplier of jewellery for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver. The Ottawa store on Sparks Street became a source of gifts to official parliamentary visitors during its existence. The freestyle skier

Jennifer Heil Jennifer Heil (born April 11, 1983) is a Canadians, Canadian freestyle skiing, freestyle skier from Spruce Grove, Alberta. Heil started skiing at age two. Jennifer Heil won the first gold medal for Canada in the 2006 Winter Olympics games in Turi ...

was a spokeswoman for the company. In 2013, the birks group changed its name from Birks & Mayors to the Birks Group. In 2015, Birks caused some controversy after Canadian Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

's wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, wore a number of their pieces to meet the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. One of the jewels was a maple leaf brooch that Birks had loaned to her. Since this brooch was worth $7,125, it raised questions regarding the ethics of such a loan.

UK development

The Birks Group sold the Mayors chain (founded in 1910 in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

) to Aurum in 2017. As part of the agreement between Birks and Aurum, the Birks Brand collections of fine jewelry will continue to be offered in 16 locations in the U.S. through the Mayors network. This transaction allowed the company to develop internationally, starting with the UK in October 2017. A month after it launched in the UK, Birks made headlines when

Meghan Markle Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family and former actress. She is the wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III. Meghan was ...

wore a pair of 18K yellow gold and opal earrings for her official engagement announcement to Prince Harry. This publicity increased the demand for the brand on digital stores and some inventories sold out. Meghan Markle supposedly holds Birks among her favorite jewellery brands, bought at least seven Birks pieces for approximately $20,000.

Activities

Maison Birks is a designer, manufacturer and retailer of

ware and gifts, with stores and manufacturing facilities located in

and the

. As of October 2017, it operates stores under two different retail banners: 28 ''Maison Birks'' stores across Canada (formerly ''Birks'') and 2 ''Brinkhaus'' stores in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. Maison Birks has six flagship stores in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

and

. The company also operates one Rolex-branded store in Orlando.

Awards

* 1998: Diamond International award * 2004: Diamonds: Nature's Miracle award *2018: World Branding Awards

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario Companies listed on NYSE American Design companies established in 2005 Jewellery companies of Canada Companies based in Montreal Canadian brands Canadian companies established in 2005