The old Christmas window display in Switzers, Grafton St

swingking

I was walking down grafton street today, and I saw the window in Brown Thomas. I got me thinking of how cool it was when we were young to go in and see the christmas display that was on in Switzers.

They would always change the theme, and there was always something magical bout this display window.

(Couldn't decide whether to put this in Dublin or Retro, so feel free to move)

Bettyboop

swingking wrote:

I was walking down grafton street today, and I saw the window in Brown Thomas. I got me thinking of how cool it was when we were young to go in and see the christmas display that was on in Switzers.

They would always change the theme, and there was always something magical bout this display window.

(Couldn't decide whether to put this in Dublin or Retro, so feel free to move)

The Santa in Switzers was great.Ah those were the days:D xmas wasnt xmas until you visited that shop.
The displays inside were excellent too.

gonker

aw do you know what I was trying to explain to my kids how magical it was and they just didnt get it. I remember going in at night with my mam and dad and brothers and sisters and just being blown away by it. There was always a queue to see it too.

Hagar

Switzer's, ha!!! Try Pim's and McBirney's.

gonker

WHere?

Hagar

They were two department stores in Dublin many moons ago. Mc Birney's was on the south quays at O'Connell Bridge where the Virgin Megastore is/was.
I can't remember where exactly Pim's was, just a vague recollection of O'Connell St / Abbey St. I was only a kid after all and it was a very long time ago, early sixties .

gonker

I remember mcbirneys alright didnt they have the money thing where the cashiers would put the money in a canister and it would shoot across the room (or was i dreaming) Pims no...dont remember it at all.

Hagar

Thay had indeed. It was a common enough thing back then. I remember Frawleys in Thomas St. had it too. They only took it aout a few years ago. Ok well maybe 20/25 years ago.

is_that_so

gonker wrote:

I remember mcbirneys alright didnt they have the money thing where the cashiers would put the money in a canister and it would shoot across the room (or was i dreaming) Pims no...dont remember it at all.

Yes pneumatic tubes. All the supermarkets use them now. 100 year old technology. McBirneys had a steep wooden staircase right in the middle. Have to say no idea about Pims myself.

gonker

Ah yes the staircase I remember that now. I used to go in there with my Granny but I dont remember their Christmas displays.

Hagar

Pim's was in Sth Great Georges St, where Dunnes is now perhaps,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bewley

There were two types of money systems, one was indeed pneumatic with tubes etc but there was another with a wire and spring driven / rubber band launched screw-in container. I think that's what was in Mc Birneys. Frawleys was pneumatic I think.

gonker

Yeah it was a wire thing I used to think that was brilliant.

is_that_so

Yes like a clothes line set up. All coming back to me now. Not sure about Pims, as I know Sth Great Georges Street was Dunnes first shop in Dublin. AFAIK the first store was opened in Cork in 1943 so I guess Dublin wouldn't have been too long after.
As for Christmas displays well it was either Switzers or Clerys but Switzers was always the one people got most excited about.

EDIT: It might have been the shop that Dockrells was in. That was big enough.

Hagar

When I think back nearly every dept store had a great window. Arnott's, Roches, Clery's. They all had Santa's. When I was kid for years myself and my sister were the only grandchildren on one side of the family and the aunts used to be fighting to take us to every Santa in town even the obscure one in the little shops. It was great, why did I ever grow old?

/edit there's a question to ask on your 4500th post, I'm just not growing up, so there.

markk06

I remember when i was a kid we used go in on an evening before christmas.
First we went to see the switzers window, then on to see the Lego exhibition in arnotts, and the best santa was the one in Clerys.
Ah good times,

gonker

Yeah my dad just told me that the window displays were amazing in Pims. He said it was in South Great Georges street and the family came from a house near where my family came from. There is one room in the house that is haunted.

swingking

yes, yes, the lego exhibition was fantastic. They would have everything made from lego.

Wow

Damien1971

Brown Thomas shop window on Grafton street is a real treat any Christmas time. Theme this year is Circus....a must see!!
Source http://www.freedublin.com

the Shades

Damien1971 wrote:

Brown Thomas shop window on Grafton street is a real treat any Christmas time. Theme this year is Circus....a must see!!
Source http://www.freedublin.com

You're kidding right? I haven't heard of anyone liking that window and what on earth has it got to do with Christmas? At least the old displays in Switzers were for the kids and not just to flog whatever overpriced crap they're peddling.

Nevyn

Bring back the gnomes, you used to be able to do a tour of the windows and the christmas ligths were magic.

I was showing mychildren the lego displays from years ago and they wanted to know why it stopped

oneweb

Ah yeah, the good ol' days And I'm only 26!!! Wow, they really were magical Christmasses, so much to look forward to, the exuberance of the gorgeous Switzers windows, Santy in the Gas shop, the LEGO displays in Arnotts (until the year we were devastated when my mam asked where it was and the guy said there was none and of course the tacky lights across the streets - none of this minimalistic, refined style, and finally the BIG TREES along O'Connell Street, it's an absolute scandal that they were uprooted in favour of those poxy little "cube" trees which have never been kept to look like cubes, they're now just anaemic twiglets

The old
versus
The new O'Connell Street

Damien1971

the Shades wrote:

You're kidding right? I haven't heard of anyone liking that window and what on earth has it got to do with Christmas? At least the old displays in Switzers were for the kids and not just to flog whatever overpriced crap they're peddling.

Hi Shades,
True, I remember enjoying he Switzers window when I was a kid, now-a-days myself and my girlfriend look in the BT window at Xmas (never buy anything in there or notice any of the stuff there flogging) but some people like it and think it adds to the Xmas spirit.
Happy Xmas!!!

shane86

the Shades wrote:

You're kidding right? I haven't heard of anyone liking that window and what on earth has it got to do with Christmas? At least the old displays in Switzers were for the kids and not just to flog whatever overpriced crap they're peddling.

Pardon the ignorance, but where was Switzers again?

BT this year is brutal, it would scare your average 3 year old. And iirc Clearys didnt even bother this year bar some lights on the mannequins. Its kind of like Paddys Day floats, the decor has become all modern-arty, nothing compared to years ago.

_blank_

markk06 wrote:

I remember when i was a kid we used go in on an evening before christmas.
First we went to see the switzers window, then on to see the Lego exhibition in arnotts, and the best santa was the one in Clerys.
Ah good times,

:eek:

Are you my brother?

shane86 wrote:

Pardon the ignorance, but where was Switzers again?

Brown Thomas on Grafton St.

I was just on Grafton St on Monday and telling someone about what that used to be like, she just didn't get the magic, having never seen it.

Then the walk across town to Arnotts for the Lego exhibition, and not being allowed open the present from the Santy in there in case I lost bits of the lego in the car, and then, of course, on to see Santy in Cleary's. He was a legend Santy alright.

Ballet Glasnevin

gonker wrote: »

I remember mcbirneys alright didnt they have the money thing where the cashiers would put the money in a canister and it would shoot across the room (or was i dreaming) Pims no...dont remember it at all.

Pim's was in South Great Georges Street down from "The Long Hall" and "Cassidy's" opposite from the Arcade Market and the first and oldest Dunne's Stores more or less. It was a large department store and visiting there was very special. The children would enter a mock-up submarine, airplane or a stage-coach and travel all the way to the North Pole to meet Santa. The "scenery" outside the "submarine" was painted with vivid illustrations that were rolled on revolving screens that gave the impression of movement while "travelling with the submarine. It was pure fantasy and great for children. For a child (which we were) it was very convincing. Afterwards you could sit and have a lemonade at "Teddybears Corner" a restaurant area in the shop for parents and children. The Christmas lighting would extend all the way up to Aungier Street in those days, and hang draped from one side of the street to the other. It was exciting to see from the upstairs in a bus at night... magic.
The Toys at Pim's were always different, one year they managed to get a Dalek from the BBC to be used for a Dr. Who merchandising display in the toys department.... large as life. I wanted to have it ; - but I got a smaller model Dalek from my mother which I badly wanted. I still have it today. This was in 1965 or 1966 I guess. Further up the street the Jacobs factory always had a great Christmas Winter landscape with trains and all in its long showcase windows going down the front of the factory. They always had an imaginative display, with little model houses with blinking lights and snow scenes.
But the best Christmas model railway display (with Winter landscapes ) was at the old Brown Thomas (where Marks & Spencer are today) in Grafton Street. Our plans to visit Santa there had to be cancelled abruptly , as when we turned up Santa had just had an argument with a manager and had stormed out of his grotto. He had been in bad form and short tempered - and was rude to some of the small children. Some people said he was drunk. Anyway, - we went to Cleary's that year instead. We took the bus from outside Pim's where it rained all the way down to O'Connel Street and the windows in the bus were all steamed up with condensation.

Ah! Those were the days!
Geary's toy shop on the top end of Grafton Street on Stephans Green was another aladdin's cave for Children. There was Healy's Toy department in Dame Street too. Great Dinkys and model airplanes.There was another department store in Pearse Street called McKenzies and McBirneys was traditionally very popular with country people for some reason - maybe that many country buses set down just across from the shop on the quay.