Grafton Street loses some of its sparkle Irish Times
Talked to a few members of the public who were stopping to look in the windows; only two of the six had a display in them. The interior was empty of anything for sale, and just before 12.45pm, the door was locked, and a sign went up saying it was closed for lunch until 2pm.
“I should have imagined if they wanted to shift everything that was left they wouldn’t have closed for lunch,” observes one woman, wistfully eyeing diamond earrings in her own lunchbreak.
Everything still for sale is displayed in the two windows fronting on to Grafton Street (everything is half the marked price). They range from a large and rather startling gold and enamel brooch in the shape of a horse, which looks more like a mantelpiece ornament than a piece of jewellery (marked €4,200), to a diamond bracelet (€10,860) and a pair of gold cuff links resembling slabs of butter (€3,700).
The cuff links are briefly the subject of discussion with four teenage boys in school uniform, who have stopped to stare at them. “They’re €37,000!” one marvels. “Jaysus, no wonder they’re closing,” says another.
Rita Gallagher removes her leather glove to show off a large seven-stone diamond engagement ring in white gold, bought for her in West’s in 1975. “My mother’s ring was bought here, and so was mine and my sister’s,” she says. “Ever since then, West’s have cleaned and overhauled it, for free, as part of the service. I’m here today to ask their advice about who to go to now.”
