“I had worked for Will Guthrie for about two years, and he and I worked on teaching me the repair work and the things behind the scenes,” Traci said. “I had a pawn shop, and then Guthrie’s Jewelry went out of business about seven years ago, and that's when I moved in.”
Guthrie’s Jewelry had been in business for 70 years. Will Guthrie took over the building and retired, and Traci had opened under “Jenny’s Jewelry”. Then Will came back and put the Guthrie name back up on the building.
“A lot of people get confused because they still think it’s a jewelry store, and we have our big ‘Jade’ sign out in front,” she said. “We do still have some of his jewelry here, and of course, the jade. But it is all now under the name of Liberty Trade.”
‘Some jewelry’ is an understatement, as you walk through the store and see all the displays...
“We were a pawn shop, but we no longer pawn,” Traci said. “We are buyers, and we do consignment. We’ll look at it and assess it, and see if it is something we can sell here in the store. I have my dealers...Silver Elegance, Black Hills gold comes from Landstroms, I order turquoise from a gentleman in Arizona, all of our bead work is local, from both tribes...those things I know I can get or order.”
Of course, you really can’t have a trade store without guns, ammo and scopes. For visitors and tourists that want to buy something that really says “Wyoming”, their collection of bead work they have from both the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes and their turquoise are best sellers. There are a few vintage items throughout the store. But what also makes Liberty Trade unique is their gold and silver. Traci runs the store with her husband, Jeff, who had a coin collection as a child.
“It has always been a hobby of his,” she said, “and then we realized that it was something the people needed because of the prices, so he started making that into a business. So now we do gold and silver, which is actually our biggest seller right now because the prices are really crazy. We also get people coming into the store and saying ‘so-and-so said you had turquoise’. And the jade."
Wedding rings and sets are something they’ve historically had since the Guthrie and Jenny’s Jewelry days “Some of our rings are pawned, but we keep those and the new rings separate so it’s not confusing when they come in. I can also order, too.”
The service side of Liberty Trade has been offered for many years. “I started cleaning and repair services under Will, and then started doing it when it was Jenny’s Jewelry,” Traci said. “Watches, jewelry, rings…I can do modern watches (I don’t mess with pocket watches, there’s just too many itty-bitty pieces and they take a long time to repair). We do stone setting, ring sizing, cleaning, all ring repairs except for prongs and tips, those are pretty intensive.
As far as having a business on Main Street, Traci said that they’ve been through some good and bad times, some hills and valleys, but “it’s been a lot of good,” she said. “Every city has a Main Street, and they’ve been here since the beginning of time, right? So it’s really easy to remember…you know, ‘I’m on Main Street’ kind of thing. Federal is too busy, so for my business, it’s great. We’re still here, retailing, and we have that mom-and-pop charm.”
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