{"id":198072,"date":"2025-06-19T20:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T20:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198072\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T20:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T20:49:12","slug":"two-shops-boarded-up-in-birmingham-city-centre-with-glimpse-of-what-could-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198072\/","title":{"rendered":"Two shops boarded up in Birmingham city centre with glimpse of what could come"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watches of Switzerland, which has been a feature of Birmingham New Street since 1995, recently closed\"PhotoTwo shops on Birmingham New Street have been boarded up ahead of a new opening(Image: Emily Chaplin\/BirminghamLive)<\/p>\n

Two shops in Birmingham city centre have been boarded up as a familiar retailer heralds a ‘new era’ on New Street.<\/p>\n

The units previously occupied by Body Shop and Watches of Switzerland were fenced off with white hoardings last week as workmen in hardhats were seen on the site.<\/p>\n

The skincare company closed its long-standing New Street shop last year<\/a> as part of a wave of nationwide cuts, which saw the closure of 75 branches.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong> Opening date announced for highly-anticipated Birmingham pub in city beauty spot<\/a><\/p>\n

It was temporarily replaced by luxury accessories brand House of Tweed over Christmas<\/a>, but the store shut down after a closing down sale in January, leaving the plot next to Blue Banana empty once again.<\/p>\n

Watches of Switzerland, which has been a feature of New Street since 1995, was also recently listed as ‘permanently closed’ on Google.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoHoardings outside the double unit state that ‘a new era of elegance is coming soon to Birmingham’ under the Mappin & Webb brand(Image: Emily Chaplin\/BirminghamLive)<\/p>\n

But new hoardings surrounding the double unit suggest that that watch company has fresh plans for the site.<\/p>\n

The signage states that ‘a new era of elegance is coming soon to Birmingham<\/a> ‘ under the Mappin & Webb brand, which is a trading name of the Watches of Switzerland Company.<\/p>\n

The hoardings reveal that a redesigned Rolex showroom is being developed at the site, with a ballpark opening date scheduled for late 2025.<\/p>\n

Rolex is the leading name in luxury wristwatches. With the average Rolex watch costing around \u00a39,000, the brand is widely seen as a symbol of wealth.<\/p>\n

While the new Birmingham showroom is being built, shoppers have been redirected to the existing Goldsmiths Birmingham store, which is located inside the Bullring.<\/p>\n

BirminghamLive has contacted the Watches of Switzerland Group for more details about its plans for the site.<\/p>\n

It follows the recent opening of Rudell’s jewellers<\/a> in the old Suit Direct shop next door on New Street in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watches of Switzerland, which has been a feature of Birmingham New Street since 1995, recently closedTwo shops on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,983,748,393,4884,29445,669,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-198072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-centre","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-high-street-closures","14":"tag-high-street-openings","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114712003874234757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}