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Molly Dickinson Jordan and her mother, Kay Dickinson, spent many Saturdays at Perkinson’s Jewelers in downtown High Point.

Not only was Perkinson’s the place for gift buying, it also was where so many High Pointers registered for their wedding gifts and assumed their places of honor in bridal registry displays.

Beautiful tabletop settings of fine china, lead crystal, silver place settings and those legendary bridal registration cards that listed every gift item carefully selected by the bridal party.

Silver serving trays, elegant candlesticks, cut crystal bowls and porcelain figurines.

Heirlooms in the making.

For all of us who had the privilege of growing up in Southern towns steeped in tradition, this type of independently owned jewelry store held a place of honor.

Visiting the jewelry store as a young girl with your mother was a series of teachable moments about how to give proper gifts, how to be gracious and how to outfit a home with style.

Since 1932, Perkinson’s Jewelers has been the staple of bridal registries, gift giving and traditions. And, of course, jewelry.

Other stores sell jewelry. But it has been the distinctive gifts, exceptional service and tradition that always have set Perkinson’s apart from its competitors.

And that is why so many of us are mourning the announcement last month that Perkinson’s will close its doors for good in July.

When Perkinson’s opened in 1932, the better jewelry stores had elegant gift departments, and the act of filling out the bridal registry was a rite of passage from girl to woman. Soon after you became engaged, you and your mother made that long-anticipated visit to Perkinson’s to sit down with someone such as 54-year employee Bobbie Aiken to complete your bridal registry.

Dickinson was one of those brides, and naturally Jordan was, too.

“We’ve had three and four generations of brides here,” Steve Suggs said. Suggs has been with Perkinson’s for 35 years and is married to Carolyn Perkinson Suggs, daughter of the founder. Perkinson Suggs has worked there for 42 years full time, as well as four or five years part time before that.

When Steve Suggs announced the store’s closing, he received a call from a local woman who had married in 1947. She wanted to know if Perkinson’s still had her china.

The store no longer carried her pattern, it did still have her bridal registration card. In fact, Sugg figures he has 98 percent of the bridal registration cards that the store has faithfully logged since it opened in 1932. And staff members can most likely put their fingers on yours if you just ask.

In its heyday, Perkinson’s would have up to 15 brides registered at one time. Sadly, times have changed. Just before the store announced its plans to close, only two brides were registered there.

“Everybody in High Point who was ever anybody registered there,” Dickinson reminisced.

“Taking your daughter to register was a real event. And then everybody would come by the store to look at what you’d chosen. We’d always try to glean what a bride’s wedding color would be from her gift selections. So many young people today don’t feel the need to register for fine china and crystal and silver. They select informal things from other stores, and often, these gifts aren’t anything that will become a keepsake to pass down to future generations.”

“My mom and I went there every Saturday,” Jordan said. “It’s a mom-and-daughter thing. More than that, though, it’s been the personal attention you get at a place like Perkinson’s that has made it a place like none else.

“I never had any doubt that I wouldn’t register there,” she said. “There was never any question, never any expectation that I’d do otherwise. I’m sure I got baby gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts and wedding gifts from there. I just cannot imagine what we’re going to do without them.”

In turn, Jordan has been a faithful customer of the store. Recently, she spent a weekend at the beach with seven high school friends. Six of those friends now have children of their own.

“All six of them have a silver tooth box from Perkinson’s that I’d given to them,” Jordan said.

“I’m sick for myself, and I’m sick for the staff there,” she said. “It’s always been like High Point’s own Tiffany’s. You knew when you got the white box with colored ribbon that it came from Perkinson’s and that Bobbie probably wrapped it.”

Jordan gets sentimental when she thinks about Bobbie Aiken.

“She’s had an opportunity to be part of everyone’s life,” Jordan said. “After I got engaged and registered, she called me and was so happy: 'Your very first gift is here! Come pick it up.’

“Their personal knowledge of you and the town, combined with their professional knowledge — well, the outcome has been pretty fantastic,” Jordan said. “I guess it’s truly a dying practice.”

Contact Cathy Weaver at cweavernr@gmail.com