Calgarians rush to sell gold as commodity tops $7K an ounce

Year over year, gold is up nearly 80 per cent, which has one Calgary jewelry store seeing an influx in people trying to sell the asset.

A Calgary jewelry store says it has seen an influx of customers looking to sell their gold thanks to record-level prices.

Wildrose Jewellers, located inside Willow Park Centre on Bonaventure Drive S.E., offers cash for gold.

Co-owner Mariane Michael says the number of people selling their gold to them has doubled recently.

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“Since the big numbers that hit early this week – over $6,900 per ounce – people are just selling like crazy,” she said. “Everyone who inherited gold from the 60s and the 70s, now they feel this is the right time to sell.

Michael says it also seems people are shying away from buying gold right now.

The constant surge has the store monitoring the prices of its jewelry too.

“We have to reprice items every day,” Michael said. “Sometimes when we place an order from a supplier, by the time we get it, the price will already change.”

Drew Slayter, a long-time customer, buys golds and collects watches.

He says he likes purchasing the commodity because he believes it will always retain its value.

“The price of gold has always kept going up,” Slayter said. “It’s just been a nice thing that I’ve owned in the past.”

As of 2 pm Tuesday, Gold was selling at over $7,000 an ounce.

In the past year, the value of gold has grown from just over $3,100 an ounce, representing a 79 per cent increase.

In the past three months alone it’s up more than 25 per cent.

“At the end of the day, it’s supply and demand, like anything else,” said Moshe Lander, a economics professor at Concordia University. “It’s just that demand is massively outstripping supply – and that’s what’s pushing it up.”

Beyond basic economics, Lander points to global instability for the gold rush.

“Trump’s threats against Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Europe with his tariff threats, Canada with tariff threats, we have lawsuits against the chair of the Fed, and central banks around the world are buying up gold because gold is seen as the traditional safe haven in uncertain times.

“It’s almost close to doubling in the last 16 months, which clearly coincides with the chaos that Trump has shown, since his election in November, inauguration in January.”

For people looking to add gold or silver – which has also jumped in value – to their investment portfolio, Faisal Karmali, senior portfolio manager at Popowich Karmali Advisory Group, says people should meet with their financial advisor.

“Are you looking for capital appreciation? Or are you just looking at to be part of the theme that’s happening at this point in time? It’s very important to make sure you understand why it’s in there before you decide to put it in there.”

He advises people to be careful about jumping in “right now,” cautioning people to understand the objective.

“We’re investing in companies who are going to benefit from the price of gold and silver going up, because those companies make cash flow, they can grow their earnings, they can make more profit.”