A luxury jewellery retailer that suddenly shut shop without notice because of an apparent rental dispute with management, has reassured customers that their goods will be returned.
Several customers who went to collect their items from Baccio Jewellers at Westfield Miranda, posted on Facebook that they were surprised to see the doors closed.
One customer said she left her diamond rings to be resized, and another wanted to pick up a lay-by.
Shop manager, Mario Zamel, said he had already contacted some clients, and would return their jewellery once he was back on site and could retrieve the pieces from the safe.
“There’s about four or five outstanding jobs and we will be delivering those today or first thing Monday morning by express post,” he said.
“I tried to call some of them and got no response – some wouldn’t answer their phones but we left messages a week or so prior to, so I really had no choice but to wrap up and put their goods away.
“I absolutely understand people’s concerns but the bottom line is they will 100 per cent get their goods.”
He said he was not sure if the shop would re-open.
“I don’t know if we will come back but there are certain things I can’t comment on,” he said.
“Everything else is pretty much in negotiations with Westfield. It’s really a rent thing – we had another six or eight months left on the lease and most probably we were going to walk anyway. We thought if we walk maybe they will come to the table.
“But it’s becoming a bit of a trend for Westfield shops like Topshop and Topman to close.”
Dianne Knight said her daughter dropped off her grandmother’s sapphire stone to have a ring made four months ago, paid $2700 upfront and was told it would be ready within four weeks ahead of her September wedding.
“He just disappeared,” Mrs Knight said.
“He never called returned our texts or calls.
“I don’t know how he will get it back to us because he doesn’t have our address, and I wouldn’t want it posted because it has sentimental value.”
A spokeswoman for owner and operator of Westfield, Scentre Group, confirmed the retailer, whose company name is De Beers Pty Ltd, is no longer trading.
“We recommend any customers who have lay-bys or jewellery in for repairs to contact the retailer directly and in the case the retailer is not responsive, we recommend customers contact NSW Fair Trading,” she said.
“In the meantime, we’ll continue to liaise with customers to try and connect them with the departed retailer.”
NSW Fair Trading is investigating.