Ayr jewellery shop owner hands reins over to son as he retires after 43 years

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A popular jewellery shop owner has officially retired after 43 years in the business.Alan Nisbet-Baldwin, 82, of His Nibs in Ayr’s Newmarket Street, is keeping the business in the family by handing over the reins to son Gareth.The jewellery and collectables shop, which originally started in nearby Queen’s Court, has been trading for over four decades in the town and will continue to serve loyal customers during a retirement sale.Alan, who lives in Kilmarnock, first opened the shop in 1978 after being made redundant.He said: “I was given £400 redundancy payment and my company car to keep.“I thought ‘I’m going to have to wait a long time before I get a job’, so I thought I’d open a little gift shop in Ayr."Alan started out selling tourist souvenirs before specialising in jewellery, small antiques, and watch and clock repairs.He said: “It’s people who steer you into what you’re doing because I had more requests for other jewellery, and so I kept on building it up.“I was born during the war and my mother was left after the war with six kids to look after, so she used to go to auctions, buy stuff, do it up and resell it.“She did jewellery and almost anything she could get her hands on, and that gave me the liking for jewellery.“Any money I made went back into the shop, that’s the only way to do it.“I didn’t take a wage, I just took petrol for my car."Alan, a former entertainer who has starred in various TV programmes including Taggart, ran the shop up until the pandemic hit, retiring aged 80 after leaving school at 14 to work.“I’ve always had a job, and was a full time entertainer for a while as well,” he said.The Ayrshire Live app is available to download now.Get all the local news in your area – plus features, football news