Joseph Rea

Good auld Joseph Rea, eh?
I’d bet that there’s not a soul in Belfast who hasn’t heard of or bought something from Joseph Rea’s. They have a reputation for being able to undercut the bigger chains on prices and for that reason, have a very loyal customer base.
I like it because it still has the mentality of a family-​run business, and the service is great. The staff are well trained and can give you advice based on what you want, not what they want you to want!

They have two shops in the city centre. There’s one in Ann Street and one in Castle Lane. I’ve always used the Castle Lane shop. The great thing about places like this is that they’re a local, independent jewellers, which means they’re much more realistic about prices and get a lot of trade from word-​of-​mouth and repeat customers.
And because it’s a long established family jewellers they very much built a reputation entrenched in older values and ideals — their attitude when they started off (at a time when Belfast was a more cash-​strapped place) was obviously that if they provided a personal customer service, gave a good price and a decent discount for, say, wedding rings, then your friends and family would come to see them when they were looking for similar items. It worked, too. There are people who won’t go to any other jewellers, at least until they’ve checked out Joseph Rea first.
They have a wide selection of all kinds of jewellery, carry out repairs on watches and jewellery, and also buy scrap gold that’s no good to you anymore.