A woman selling flowers on Grafton Street summed up the mood perfectly. "People seem down in themselves," she said. "It's definitely not like a normal Saturday morning."
It wasn't. For a start there were the sombre notices pasted on the windows of usually bustling clothes stores along the street. From Warehouse to Miss Selfridge, Brown Thomas to Dunnes Stores, consumerism turned to condolence for Diana, Princess of Wales.
As shoppers stayed at home to watch the funeral proceedings on television, some notices announced that the stores would remain shut for the day. Others chose not to open their doors until 2 p.m.
Those stores that were open announced over their public address systems, that "out of respect for Princess Diana" they were honouring a minutes silence at 11 a.m. as the princess's remains entered Westminster Abbey.
The capital appeared oddly muted . In Exchequer Street, a young shop assistant stood staring at a television screen watching pictures of the funeral cortege. "I just want to see what is going on," said Emer Fitzpatrick (17) from Kilternan, Co Dublin. "It has affected a lot of people."
Across the road in an almost empty record store, five screens showed the funeral while rock music blared in the background.
In Brown Thomas, general manager, Ronan Faherty, echoed the view expressed by retailers across the State when he said that business was "very quiet for a Saturday morning". Due to a request from personnel, a television had been set up in the staff restaurant so that they could watch the funeral on breaks.
"Anyone who is off work is very pleased to be off," customer services officer, Derval Brown, said.
For those stuck in the city, but wishing to watch the funeral, Brown Thomas was one of the best places to be. In the HiFi department the screens of more than 100 state-of-the-art sets beamed out live coverage of the service.
It was appropriate given the princess's affinity with young people that the children's department boasted a large television screen, where at one stage a crowd of 30 stood watching . One child, expecting the cartoons normally shown there, was disappointed, saying "not Diana again".
Most though shared the sentiments of two elderly women viewers. Dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs, they kept insisting that they would stay for "just one more hymn". Like many, they were still there at the end of the service.