Businesses in Belfast city centre have been reaping the benefits of increased festive footfall since the long-awaited reopening of Primark's newly revamped store last month.
Primark's fully renovated flagship store on Royal Avenue welcomed back customers for the first time in four years on November 1.
It comes after a fire broke out at the premises on August 28, 2018 while the Caste Street store was undergoing a major £30m refurbishment and extension.
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Since the Bank Buildings inferno of August 2018, until the reopening of Primark last month, a section of Castle Street had been cut off to traffic.
Businesses in the immediate area were impacted by the fire and construction work that was continuing in the years since, particularly those on Castle Street.
However, now that Castle Street has fully reopened, businesses on that stretch and nearby have been breathing a sigh of relief as eager shoppers flock back to the pavements to bag a bargain in the run-up to Christmas.
Among those feeling the positive impact of Primark's return is City Picnic co-owner Arthur McAnerney, who told Belfast Live: "The reopening of Primark has been fantastic and the clean up and removal of the scaffolding and shipping containers has made a phenomenal difference to the vibrancy of the street.
"We have relocated our garden area to Castle Street as a result and invested again in lighting and gas heaters. That has also reinvigorated the area and made it look like a friendly street where people are happy to walk up and down.
"The additional pedestrianisation of the lower end of Castle Street has been a welcome addition too and people feel comfortable and safe walking around without vehicles.
"It's all having a very positive impact on trade and Primark's lights are on throughout the evening and right into the small hours, which has really illuminated Castle Street."
Arthur added: "It also means that people have found us here at City Picnic for the first time and so many have said that they didn't realise we were here and still operating. Now they're all enjoying the food and having a great time.
"There is a pent up demand this Christmas with people out to celebrate for the first time in a few years whether that's parties or heading out in town.
"A lot has happened in Belfast in the past three or four years that people haven't been able to utilise and enjoy so we're seeing people coming into the city a lot earlier than expected for this time of year.
"Normally Christmas trade wouldn't really have picked up until mid-December with a real dramatic rush but it has actually been the case since the end of November., which is fantastic".
Further up the street, it's a similar picture at Maggie Mays Belfast Cafè where manager Marty Moran and his team are being kept busy thanks to more Primark shoppers coming through the doors.
"We have had twice the amount of customers compared to normal since it reopened. The opening week at the start of November had a massive impact as it was crazy," Marty explained.
"It was quite coincidental that the store reopened around Christmas so it's a mix of Primark customers and the town getting busier anyway at this time of year.
"It definitely got us up and running for the Christmas period with a massive mix of young and old coming through our doors. Visually as well the whole street is much more approachable for people to come down and see what's here."
He added: "We actually first opened here the same month that Primark burned down so that had a massive impact initially for around a year or so afterwards as people didn't know we were here.
"Now that the street has fully opened up again, it feels like we're on our way back to normality."
John Mallon from C Mallon Family Butchers said they were also very quiet immediately after the fire and while the surrounding area was cordoned off.
As time went on, business has been steadily picking up and the reopening of Primark has given the area a much-needed boost in the run up to Christmas.
He said: "We have definitely seen increased footfall since the street opened up again and more people coming up and down the length of the street so that's very positive.
"People had thought the street was closed off with all the work going on so this part of town was a bit forgotten about but you can clearly see that there are more people about again.
"It's a draw for people to come back into town again and it's great to see that increased footfall in the run-up to Christmas."
Across the road from Primark on Royal Avenue, Mairead McCusker-Jones, Argento area manager also agrees that the store's return has had a massive impact over the past five weeks.
"Even in the first week of November, we noticed a lot of people even from the outskirts of the city were travelling back into town. That had stopped for various reasons including parking and we have a lot more customers coming in from across the border too," she said.
Mairead added: "It has definitely improved the city centre tenfold, without a doubt and it's unreal the impact that its closure had on the city.
"This part of town had become forgotten about but now to have Primark open again and all the scaffolding down really opens up the whole city centre.
"Primark was always the focal point and we were all so excited about it reopening but we didn't expect it to have such a positive impact so it's definitely beneficial.
"You can see the people all coming in with their Primark bags stuffed to the brim as it's now a shopping and destination point so we're definitely getting the bounce back from that.
"It was something that we desperately needed because we have a chain of stores and Belfast was the one most negatively impacted and never got the bounce back after Covid so we're loving this!
"Last Christmas was quite dreary and many people were travelling to out of town shopping centres that had Primark and not into the city centre but there's more of a buzz again now."
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