Availability, accessibility and visibility are the keys to sell products. Gone are the days when goldsmiths operated from dingy corners of their homes, finds out T R Sathish Kumar
Earlier, there were small conventional shops where customers used to bargain over both quality and price. Now jewellery shops look like star hotels, where luxurious sofas and couches are put for customers to relax. The interiors look like a lounge in a star hotel or even better.
Huge chandeliers hang down high-rise ceilings in spacious showrooms. Each jewellery showroom looks like a high-end mall in itself.
And, now jewellery shops have a new address in Mysore – Bangalore-Nilgiri road near the sub-urban bus stand. Mysore, being the royal city, has always been a very good place for jewelers to do business as well as to display their talent and creativity. Like the city itself, jewellery business has its own history.
So since the inception of metallurgy, jewellery would have existed. However, the Wadiyars are believed to have patronised jewellers settled down in Bangalore in the 19th and 20th century. So, it is learnt that the local jewellers catered mostly to the needs of common people and a few noblemen.
Initially, jewellers established their shops at Doddapete, now Ashoka road, and Shivarampete. Only a few had their shops on Sayyaji Rao road. But Ashoka road has almost become synonymous with jewellery shops.
In the 1980s when the new D Devaraja Urs road was laid, shops started to come up there. Not much literature is available about the history and heritage of jewellery in Mysore. But, a few shops have been handed down to the fourth generation now.
A Shankara Chetty and Sons, operating at KR Circle on Sayyaji Rao road, claim to be established in 1925. However, proprietor A G Krishnamurthy said their claim is based on the records available even though their shop was started almost two decades earlier.
Now, his son Adarsh K Murthy is looking after the business. N K Chandraprakash, proprietor of Nabha Krishna Shetty and Company, who started the first jewellery shop on D Devaraja Urs road in 1983 said his father Nabha Krishna Shetty started N K Jewellery Mart at Shivarampet in 1941. Now his son N C Badriprasad helps him in business.
Associate director of Malabar Gold P Sharafuddeen says the response has been overwhelming, since they ventured into Mysore in 2009. He said: “Both Ashoka road and Devaraja Urs road are overcrowded. None of the jewellers have parking facility. Most of the buildings here do not have basement. Even if they have basement, the space is commercially used instead of parking.”
His marketing manager Dilip Hegde said: “Earlier, buying gold was based on one’s needs. But, the recent trend is to buy gold for various reasons. It needs no occasion. Some just pay a casual visit to our showroom and if they like a jewel, they buy it. Some buy to add to their collection. For some it is intelligent investment.”
Sharafuddeen said: “Despite having the highest visibility and accessibility, there is a need to attract customers as there is a lot of competition. We organise special events to bring in more customers like we have a organised a diamond jewellery exhibition from March 17.” “A necklace worth Rs 3.5 crore on display would be the main attraction,” he added.
Devi Ramanathan, a resident of Yadavagiri, said she was attracted to the shop due to a wide range of collections to choose from. A native of Chennai, she said she used to buy jewels from a well-known shop in T Nagar earlier, but now she has become a regular at Malabar. However, Chandraprakash says his business has not been affected by either multinational brands or Kerala brands. “We concentrate on quality and craftsmanship.
Our customers come back to us with trust and confidence. We have customers who are into second and third generations.”
Krishnamurthy said he was aware of his regular customers being attracted towards new brands. “ However, they come back after sometime,” he adds.
Srinivasamurthy and Subbalakshmi said they were third generation customers to ASC from both their families. Srinivasamurthy said he himself has been coming to the shop for the past 40 years.