Ellicott City Not Ready to Part With Gold

The price of gold hit a record high Wednesday, just below $1,500 an ounce, according to the Wall Street Journal.

At those prices, gifts from old boyfriends, class rings and those chains from your hip-hop days might start to sparkle a little brighter. But has the high price of this precious metal really driven people in Ellicott City to sell?

“There’s a little bit of hype about gold prices,” said David Reyes, owner , but business has been pretty steady at the Main Street shop.

“I don’t think people follow the exact price of gold,” he said. “They just know that it’s up.”

He didn’t think the hype had yet hit the average Joe, and Reyes hasn’t seen a spike in business, which averages just a few people a day.  Though to the shop over, that’s fine.

“It doesn’t take a lot,” he said, to turn a profit. For instance, a customer earlier in the day brought in just a few gold chains and a class ring. Reyes offered her nearly $1,000.

She decided to shop around.

“It’s like the housing bubble times 10,” he said. As the price of gold goes up, people wait and wait and wait, “and then they wish they’d sold.”

Since the price of gold doesn’t seem to affect business in this affluent community, Reyes has some other ideas.

“I want to throw gold-buying parties,” he said. “You can get a couple of girlfriends, sell some stuff, then I can set you loose with all that cash.”