Dan Cunliffe II, right, and his parents, Dan and Dorothy, stand Thursday in Republic Jewelry & Collectibles in Auburn. The father and son team are marking 40 years of business this year. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

The father and son team of Dan Cunliffe and Dan Cunliffe II at Republic Jewelry & Collectibles is marking 40 years in business this year. The elder Cunliffe left a well-paying job as a manager at Wonder Bread to take a chance on going it alone in the 1980s.

He started out selling coins out of a briefcase and soon had a table at the Lewiston Mall, expanding his line to include jewelry and then collectibles, which is the bread and butter of the business today.

It is a consistently busy storefront at 212 Center St., where it’s been since September of 1992.

“I look back and I wonder how that it all happened,” Cunliffe senior said Thursday. “If I had to start over again, I wouldn’t know how to do it.”

At 82, he still comes to work most days as does his wife, both of them born and raised in Lewiston.

The younger Cunliffe runs the day-to-day operations alongside Manager Chrissy Ames, who has been with the family business for 25 years. In all, the business employs 18 people and at least one other employee has been there 22 years.

Plans are in the works for a formal celebration of the anniversary later this summer and the collectible fans will want to pay attention to who is invited. More on that later.

This story was originally published as part of “Blackie’s Farm Fresh Produce completes expansion“. The Buzz offers quick hits about trending area business happenings. Have a Buzzable tip? Contact business writer Christopher Wheelock at 689-2817 or cwheelock@sunjournal.com