Cranna's Jewellers is in what was Oliver Market built in 1920. This was the first portion of Oliver's downtown core to develop. The business district's growth was sporadic with the next section of downtown being built around the mid 1930s and continued to the 1940s.
This older section reflects a variety of architectural styles including Art Deco. The older buildings still have false facades that retain the characteristics of Arts and Crafts, Plainsman and the Streamline Moderne as an example the Oliver Theater built in 1946. This older section was built with cinder block construction.
I spoke at length with the owner of the Cranna's Jewellers, living in Oliver all of his life, he was the first baby born in what was the St. Martin’s Hospital constructed in 1942 and was run by the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Anne. He showed me a picture of Oliver in 1924 and still remembers most of the gentlemen in the photograph.
Cranna's Jewellers is in business since 1975. He offers jewelry, some custom made, does watch repair and cleaning, engraving and a large selection of diamonds and other gems. Though not for sale, he showed me several pendants with a gold nugget that he mined himself.