Stapleton Jewellers has become something of an institution for local jewellery buffs but after 58 years of serving the peninsula its doors are closing.
Jewellery is not the only precious item that Margaret Edwards deals in at her family business Stapleton Jewellers. She also deals in the rich stories that accompany every sparkling piece sold at the Warriewood Square shop.
“There are so many stories,” she says. “That is what is so special about jewellery. It’s not just the value, it’s why. Why did you get this or that piece? Is it an anniversary? A birthday present? You know who gave it to you. You know these important milestones.”
These attachments and their narratives are partly the reason tears have been shed at the announcement of its doors closing in June.
“It’s because there are so many memories,” Margaret says. “I’ve had visits from a number of older women who bought their wedding rings from our Dee Why store 50 years ago, and who’ve told me their stories.
“Closing down brings up memories for people.”
Margaret is the second generation owner of Stapleton Jewellers, a family business originally begun by her mum and dad, Carol and John Stapleton, in Double Bay. “My father was a jeweller and a watchmaker,” she says. “They moved to Beacon Hill, and the business to Dee Why, in 1968.”
They are now in Warriewood Square.
Margaret took over the business about a decade ago but first started working at the store at the age of 12, cleaning jewellery two afternoons-a-week.
She feels it is the right time to close and says there are a number of reasons for the decision. One of the main ones is exhaustion. “I’m here six-days-a-week,” she says. “There’s a lot in running a small business. It takes commitment. I work with my daughter, Hope, so we are unable to take family holidays.
“Life’s too short. It’s time for a change and I’m young enough to still be able to have a different career.”
She adds that the usual factors are also in play: people’s shopping patterns changing, shopping centres becoming more generic and losing independent businesses, and the constraints of an economy in which luxury things like jewellery are forsaken.
She says that pre-Covid, only younger people used the internet; Covid-proper made older people also use the internet more.
“I’ve had visits from a number of older women who bought their wedding rings from our Dee Why store 50 years ago.”
“In the past a ring wasn’t that important if, for instance, a couple was saving for a house. Now with social media, young girls are competing with each other for the biggest stone. Younger people don’t mind if something isn’t real. Older people only want something that is real.”
Margaret’s mum passed away some years ago but her dad, John, is still with us. “He was happy when I told him of the plan to close the business,” she says. “Working every weekend means you don’t get to have those family celebrations.”
She agrees the peninsula is full of celebrities and characters but is tight-lipped about special customers, remaining professional to the last with this information. But she does recall one notable customer, an international identity, who spent about 40-minutes in the shop looking for diamonds. “I had no idea who he was but everyone walking past was looking at this young man. Then people said “Do you know who that was?”. I had no idea he was a multi-world champion in surfing!”
Margaret believes it is the personal service at Stapletons which has kept it in good stead all these years: “You get to know people. You watch families grow. You see women and their children grow, and now their grandchildren. You are a part of their lives.”
She says some regular visitors now sadly ask ‘where am I going to go for my weekly catch up, and my repairs?’.
Just weeks away from shutting, Margaret is working a full seven days. She faces them one-at-a-time! “I didn’t realise how much work this would be,” she says. “In terms of my emotions, it doesn’t feel real.
“I don’t think I will realise it’s finished until it’s finished.”
