THE divide between Perth and Northbridge is finally opening up and one Perth jeweller is right in the centre of the new gateway.
Keen to open a third showroom after Subiaco and Crown, and return to Perth CBD where the business was originally set-up in 1972, Linneys Jewellery creative director Justin Linney has opened a King Street showroom in December.
After five years of planning, negotiating and refitting the heritage listed 1904 building at number 61, Mr Linney said the timing was perfect to take advantage of the new pedestrian access.
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READ NOW“We were in King Street with a shop just up the road five years ago where we wanted to test the market and see if it was a good fit; Chanel has now moved in where we were,” he said.
“It had its challenges working with a heritage listed building (but) we wanted to preserve the original floorboards, keep the high ceiling and retain the front windows.
“We knew the Perth City link project was going to be opening around the same time, which would be a massive change.
“It’s been over a century now we’ve had that divide between the city and Northbridge and it was effectively a bit of a dead end at the Wellington Street end with the train line.”
Mr Linney said now that half the business focused on diamonds, the move would also tap into the bridal market.
He said he saw an increase in enquiries since the recent change to the marriage law.
“We’ve done a lot of work with different markets and we’ve always catered for different requests but more so now we are getting more enquiries from the gay community,” he said.
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