City Mall plans make jeweller quit site

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 7

City Mall plans make jeweller quit site

By

DAVID CLARKSON

Fears that a planned City Mall amphitheatre would reduce pedestrian traffic have led the jewellers shop Stewart Dawson and Company to leave the High Street site it has occupied for 118 years. The shop will shift at Easter to a new site in the Triangle Centre, on the corner of Colombo Street and Cashel Street The final day of its week-long “lease-expired” sale was yesterday. The manager, Mr Rob Clark, said Stewart Dawsons had built the present building in 1916, but bad traded from the site since 1871. The building was sold 10 years ago, he said. Until March 23 the shop would trade at its existing site, but would

shift into the new, slightly smaller premises over Easter. The new shop would be completely refurbished during the winter, he said. The traditional Stewart Dawsons image would continue, although the firm has been moving out of such lines as silverware and crystal and concentrating on jewellery, he said. The main reason for the shift was the city council’s plan to build an amphitheatre in the City Mall outside the shop. “This is going to contribute to a reduction in foot traffic. It is going to cut this corner off from the rest of the City Mall,” Mr Clark said. “That has played a large part in our decision to move. We haven’t done it lightly,” he said.