Perth’s retail heart has been given a major vote of confidence with a significant investment by the city’s oldest jewellers.
Just days after the news that china and glassware shop Watsons of Perth is to be lost to the High Street after 116 years, T. Paterson Jeweller, founded in 1832, has announced the largest expansion in the history of the family business.
Derek Paterson, whose great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Paterson, founded the business and moved into the current premises around 1870, has purchased the adjacent former Campus Sports shop, and work will soon begin to convert the two shops into one large store.
He said the larger shop will continue to have the distinctive wooden shop front and quality feel of a family jeweller, with the added advantage of more space to browse the increased product range.
There will also be an additional workshop to help meet the increasing demand for their bespoke jewellery, much of which the company manufacture, and they have already taken on an additional jeweller to assist with expanding their large range of jewellery and watches already on offer.
Mr Paterson, 43, the shop’s managing director, believes the larger premises will be a welcome addition to Perth’s High Street.
“We’re so excited to announce our expansion,” he said. “We are becoming increasingly busy, as there is a growing demand for unique jewellery.
“So many places now have mass-produced jewellery, which does have its place, but more and more people want something a bit more special, that they won’t find anywhere else.
“Part of the appeal of coming into a jewellers is trying on jewellery, and our larger premises will allow us to increase both our range of stock and our manufacturing capacity.
“This is a big project but we are well prepared for it and we hope to keep disruption to a minimum. We have needed to do this for years.
“I really do believe that our expansion is a boost for Perth’s High Street, and I’m looking forward to our customers experiencing our new shop when we complete the works in the early summer of 2017.”
