In my time living in Toronto, I thought of Birks as a small step below Tiffany and a big step above the traditional mall jewelry stores (Peoples, Mappins, etc). I didn't ever step foot in the place when I lived in the T dot, but passed the display windows by the Manulife Centre on many an occasion.
So when looking around (kind of casually) for a wedding band on our last visit, we stopped at the Eaton Centre location. The storefront is classier than the other mall jewelers and the employee who helped us had a swanky British accent. Unfortunately, he just wasn't particularly helpful about choosing a band. No sizing fingers, no thoughts on bands that work with a simple engagement ring, pretty much no help whatsoever. I mean, the dude was friendly and all, but when I go into a store I don't expect the statement "check our website" if you have pricing or style question. Seriously, if the clerk at Wal-Mart knows more about the $2.99 products five aisles away than the jeweler trying to sell thousand-plus dollar rings does... what does that say about the store?
After talking to him I did indeed check the website and dayum, the prices are expensive. For a basic band it was actually more expensive than its Tiffany counterpart (which is way out of our price range to begin with).