A Byres Road jewellers is set to close its doors for the final time after 70 years.
Thomas Harkins Jeweller has been a pillar of the community since it first opened in 1953. Providing thousands of customers with some of the best watches, rings and necklaces the city has to offer.
However, long-term custodian Michael Harkins, aged 67, has decided to call it a day and ride off into the sunset for a well deserved retirement.
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His father, Thomas, was the one who initially brought the beloved store to the iconic city street, opening within a newsagents at first.
Michael told Glasgow Live: "My dad had a fascination with gemstones. He received his Gemmological Association of Great Britain diploma in 1949 with distinction.
"After that he decided, with my mother who was a school teacher, to scour around Glasgow, which was completely different then, and they found this wee shop which had been a newsagents.
"Part of the deal, which I could never understand, was that he had to run it as a newsagents for a couple of years to get rid of the guy's stock.
"Gradually he introduced watches, clocks, necklaces and built it up from there. In the early 60s it was a thriving business.
"Unfortunately for him, like so many in those days, he was a heavy smoker and he smoked so much that in 1973 at 59 years of age he dropped down with a heart attack.
"So he didn't get to enjoy the fruits of his labour. At that time I was 18 and I would come in from school and work away here and I enjoyed working in the shop.
"When my father died my older brother came in and took over. "
The family would open up two other stores, one in Shawlands which remained open for forty years and another in Parkhead which is still a jewellers to this day.
Through the decades the Byres Road store has served many Glaswegians who have purchased their beloved items, with generations of families entering the treasure trove and finding a hidden gem.
Since announcing his retirement, some have returned to the shop to show their appreciation for countless memories the Harkins family have provided.
He said: "A few people in the last couple of days have come in and they've been telling me their stories.
"A lot of messages I've had from customers are saying that the store has meant so much to them. I equate it to the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life,' you don't realise the impact you are having on people until a moment like this.
"People tell me that they enjoyed coming in and it was more like meeting a friend, a social thing for the customers.
"Generations of families have walked through the door. There was a lady in who was very upset and she told me she was born up the road in 1945.
"She was sent down here to pick out her first watch and she could remember it clear as day. She mentioned how great the experience was and that her father was also a customer.
"We must have meant something to folk."
As for the changes to Thomas Harkins Jewellers over the decades, Michael has seen many. From the recent addition of protective screens due to covid to the various items now on show, it is fair to say the store has evolved and adapted over time.
The 67-year-old explained: "The shop is completely different from what it used to be.
"Because of the internet the stock is nothing like what we used to sell. Back in the day we had very good going business regarding engagement and wedding rings, there was much more of a choice then.
"We sold watches, clocks, jewellery, ladies would use brush and comb sets. We had cases full of cutlery, clock, compacts, lipstick holders, pens.
"There was just so much that you don't see now. It flipped from mostly sales and some repairs to now repairs and the occasional sale. Now we are known for repairing jewellery, watches, clocks."
As with any shop that has lasted so long there have been plenty of hurdles to overcome along the way. However, some of the hardest struggles have provided the proud owner with the fondest memories.
Michael said: "The last few years have been difficult with Covid, now we have the cost of living crisis.
"But then we look back to my father's day and there was the winter of discontent, the miner strike and we had the three-day week. I remember in the early 70s we had our newspaper and my father would look and see when our lights would be switched off.
"Because there would be so many days of the week we would be in darkness as the lights were cut off at 3pm.
"My father was very ingenious and bought caravan gas lights and he had a big gas canister. He rigged up a copper pipe which fed into the lights and it was like we were in the Victorian times.
"Once the lights were off he switched on the gas and it would light the mantles so we could still trade. One day my father came in here and my brother and I were working away.
"He had a camping gas canister which had to be renewed. He walked through the back door where we had a gas fire there.
"I was attending to a customer just before Christmas time and there was an almighty explosion. I turned round and the flames came out through the back door.
"I thought my god what has happened to my father. I opened the door and he looked like a cartoon. He had his cigarette hanging out his mouth, his bushy eyebrows were ash, he was in shock.
"He walked out and left the gas canister in the street."
With retirement edging ever closer and the owner set to turn the key for the last time at the end of the month, the 67-year-old is unsure about the future. He also doesn't how he will feel once he locks the door his dad first opened in 1953 for the final time.
The custodian said: "You'll have to ask me on the day.
"My wife has said that I will be emotional and yes I probably will be, but it is just something I've got to do.
"I don't know what is ahead of us. I refer to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
"They are at the edge of the cliff in one scene and they decide they are going to have to jump. So my analogy is I can't go back, it's forward all the time.
"I'm basically going to jump. Customers are asking what I have planned, I don't know. When I put that key in the door I will head on the train home."
Shoppers still have the chance to buy a product from the historic shop with the stock discounted by 25 per cent as all of it must go.
Michael has always enjoyed serving customers and did so with pride.
He wants everyone to know that "It has always been a pleasure and is never a chore."
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