High-end watch store TAG Heuer is set to open its doors in Aberdeen, but how do residents feel about the news?
The new shop at number 132, on the corner of the Granite Mile and Belmont Street, will be run by centuries-old jewellers Jamieson and Carr.
It’s scheduled to open by December this year.
Comments on The Press and Journal and Evening Express website and social media accounts show many welcomed the news, but some were not impressed.
Euan Brand wrote: “Great to see an independent family business established in Aberdeen for many years investing money in the city centre.”
Dani Rose Mackay echoed Mr Brand’s comments: “If it helps attract other goods back to Union Street it’s a positive if you ask me.
“Lots of new customers off the cruise ships as posted last week from local bars.
“Won’t only be Aberdeen as the target market. People just love a moan don’t they?”
Are high-end brands welcome in Aberdeen?
TAG Heuer watches can be expensive, starting at around £1,500.
Opinions were mixed among P&J readers on whether there is a market for a high-end brand in Aberdeen.
Tracy Allan wrote: “I’m sorry but who the heck is going to be able to purchase any of them watches?
“They cost a fortune and people are struggling with money due to the extreme cost of living crisis.
“Who’s going to blow over a grand or more over a stupid watch that’s a month’s rent for someone? Won’t last, [I] give it till the end of the year.”
In response to those concerns, Ed Tumath wrote: “Folk moan about no shops on Union Street, then a high-end brand open up and same complainers complain that people (meaning THEY) will never be able to afford to shop there.
“Basically, the city’s complainers don’t want shops to open if they’re expensive, but when cheap shops open they’ll complain that they’re making Union Street look tacky.”
The unit Tag Heuer will occupy has laid empty since The Money Shop moved out in March 2019.
Philip Carry, partner at Jamieson and Carry, said in a previous statement to The Press and Journal: “We are delighted to see work now well underway to turn our dream of opening Aberdeen’s first Tag Heuer boutique into a reality.
“Tag Heuer and Jamieson and Carry have enjoyed a long partnership dating back to 1980s and the brand has always been very popular with our customers in Aberdeen and beyond.”
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