A JEWELERS with links to Bradford – including winning the FA Cup trophy won by the Bantams – permanently closes its last Yorkshire branch after 190 years.
A. Fattorini The Jeweler is closing its store in Harrogate, established in 1831, due to the retirement of store owner Anthony Tindall.
All gold and diamond jewelry on the Parliament Street site will be discounted by 50% at a closing sale starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. and customers will only be able to purchase in-store.
A.Fattorini The Jewelers to close Harrogate store
Mr Tindall, 69, who joined the firm in 1976, said: “I have mixed feelings about retirement.
“The decision to close the store was incredibly difficult. It is without a doubt the end of an era for Harrogate and for our family.
“I have loved my time in the business and will miss the customers, many who have been coming to the store for many years to purchase special and sentimental pieces.”
“A lot of people are going to miss it. A lot of people are contacting us who were Bradford customers. People come to see us for a great day in Harrogate from Bradford. The Bradford store had an excellent reputation and we have tried to maintain it.
Antonio Fattorini, who launched the jewelry house
The name Fattorini has a long and illustrious history with Bradford. A 160-year history of retailing ended in Bradford in March 2012 with the closure of the former Fattorini jewelry store.
The shutters fell for the last time at the Tyrrel Street silversmith branch, which took over the Fattorini company in 1986.
The closure ended an association between Fattorini and the city of Bradford which began in 1846 with the opening of the original boutique by Antonio Fattorini, great-great-grandfather of Anthony Tindall, who came in England after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and first made a living as a salesman. He started his first jewelry business in 1831 in Harrogate.
Antonio’s sons, John and Edward, settled in Bradford and founded the company, which in 1870 had two branches in Kirkgate and Westgate.
A 1973 Telegraph & Argus Fattorini advertisement
Fattorini’s is famous for designing the FA Cup trophy, first won in 1911 by Bradford City.
In 1852, a forerunner of the old Empire Stores mail order business emerged when a watch club offering customers 20 weeks credit was established and operated by Fattorini stores in Bradford, Harrogate and Skipton. Empire Stores was closed in 2008 by French owners SA Redoute Catalog of Roubaix – the sister city of Bradford.
The Fattorini name continues with sales and production sites in Birmingham and Manchester and a sales office in London.
