After 30 years, Graziella family starts over as Papa George's Workshop in Whitby

For more than 30 years, Graziella Fine Jewellery was where Durham Region families marked their biggest moments — engagement rings, wedding bands, and heirlooms repaired and restored. The Basmaji family business began at flea markets before its first small store opened in Whitby Mall in 1998, and grew into storefronts in Whitby and Oshawa.

That chapter ended suddenly in September, when a court-appointed receiver took over the business and both storefronts closed. In a message to customers, the family said clients' jewellery was safe and arranged pickups for items that had been left for repair.

Now the family is starting again, on a much smaller scale. Jacques Basmaji has relaunched the business as Papa George's Workshop, operating from a garage workshop at 15 Holden Court in Whitby. The workshop offers on-the-spot repairs, custom work, watch batteries, overhauls and gold buying — with Jacques's father, George, back at the bench doing the repairs and custom pieces he has crafted for decades.

The family has deep roots in the community, including years of involvement with local charities such as Hearth Place. In a farewell letter to customers this month, the family wrote about customers who became friends, and about children who grew up visiting the stores and later returned to choose their own engagement rings.

Whitby's mayor is scheduled to visit the workshop on Saturday, October 24, at 10 a.m., a show of support as the family rebuilds.

The goal, Jacques says, is to return to a proper storefront when they can. For now, it is the same craft and the same family — just working from a garage in Whitby.