A new jewellery store in Coimbatore driven by technology and service

K Srinivasan spent his childhood years observing the everyday lives of the jewellers of Big Bazaar Street. His father owned a shop that did electroplating in the neighbourhood. “I noticed how many of them tasted instant success after entering the field,” says the 62-year-old, who is now the chairman and managing director of Emerald Jewel Industry India, the name behind Jewel One outlets in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Jewel One has recently opened a flagship store at Cross Cut Road in Coimbatore. It is spread across five floors and according to Srinivasan, has been designed to make jewellery shopping an experience. With each floor dedicated to sections such as gold, silver, diamond, and bridal, the focus is on incorporating technology and service into jewellery shopping. A highlight is an in-house designer who will be present through the day, with whom shoppers can interact to curate the kind of jewellery they prefer. There also is a separate section for repairs with experts at the ready to mend jewellery that need fixing.

The store is the kind of place Srinivasan always dreamt of, when he started a business venture with a capital of ₹10,000 from his mother. “I always wanted to do something on my own,” says Srinivasan, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. His family hoped that he would take up a secure banking job, but he had his heart set on entering the jewellery business.

To learn the ropes, he worked as a salesman in a jewellery store at Big Bazaar Street in the 1980s. Srinivasan’s background in Mathematics helped, and he came up with ideas to spruce things up at the store. “I quickly moved from silver to gold sales,” he recalls. Around this time, he happened to meet a traveller from Ahmedabad, who would go on to change his life.

The man was looking for an address and Srinivasan, who was well-versed in Hindi, offered to help him. The two of them ended up having coffee together and Srinivasan came to know that the traveller was in the jewellery business in Ahmedabad. Noticing a spark in the youngster, he offered him a business opportunity at one of his four shops.

K Srinivasan
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Special arrangement

For Srinivasan, who was waiting to take the plunge into the field, it was a dream offer. “I announced to my family that I was quitting my salesman job to start my own jewellery business,” he says. They didn’t take the news well though. Where was he to go for the capital? “After a lot of struggle, I put together money from my mother and friends to buy 150 grams of gold,” he says.

He travelled to Ahmedabad with the designs he got made, which were an instant hit. This was a time when Coimbatore’s gold filigree jewellery was in demand across India and Srinivasan was backed by his research on patterns that sell out during his stint as a salesman.

Srinivasan would get gold from his suppliers and get them crafted into jewellery by goldsmiths in the city. “I worked with goldsmiths in Gandhi Park, Kempatty Colony, Telugu Brahmin Street, and Vysial Street,” he recalls, adding that their craftsmanship laid the foundation for his business that soon spread to other parts of India. 

A lot has changed over the years; today, Jewel One stores are present in places such as Madurai, Salem, Erode and Hosur, apart from Coimbatore, and Srinivasan hopes to take his brand to more cities. With gold prices rising, he is also looking at offering designs in 18K, nine-karat, or even in silver, depending on what the customer is looking for.