‘Jewellery supermarket’ takes off

Dedicated mall on Jade Street makes it easier for smaller stores to operate and attract customersA shopping mall dedicated solely to jewellery has opened on the historic Jade Street in Kowloon, providing an avenue for smaller brands to promote their products in the city.迷你倉西貢The Hong Kong Jewellery Outlet is a HK$50 million project backed by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Hong Kong Jewellery Association. It spans three floors, housing more than 30 brands of mostly mid-range diamonds, jewellery, gemstones and gold.The mall's managing director Louis Wong Chun-ning likens the place to "a jewellery supermarket"."There is the demand," Wong said. "In Hong Kong, there is no dedicated jewellery shopping area or mall. But overseas, for instance in New York's 47th Street, the entire street sells jewellery."A place like Hong Kong that has such high rents really needs this kind of model that makes it easier for smaller jewellery stores to operate."The prices of most jewellery at the mall are lower than those of big chains such as Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang but are more expensive than one would find on the same street.Eighty per cent of the vendors in the mall were wholesalers, Wong said.The clientele the mall attracts are usually quite knowledgeable too. "When they are buying loose diamonds, they'll know its Rapaport price [an international benchmarking system]. They will even bring their own loop. They're really smart so we're trying to give them more choice," Wong said.Although the mall had been a concept for years and construction started only in April, the ban on tour guides accepting commissions from stores which came into effect in October has helped the cause.Shopping tours to jewellery retailers have long been a mainstay of revenue for 迷你倉將軍澳our agents. After the ban, many tours ceased to operate. By creating a destination jewellery hub, the mall believes it will be able to court the increasingly independent mainland shopper."We are not targeting tour groups but locals and independent travellers," said Wong, adding that he hoped it would be a 50-50 split. Currently, the crowd is 80 per cent local and 20 per cent tourist."Without tour groups, more individual travellers will start shopping and they will head to the mall. From the start, we had planned advertising in Shenzhen. [The tour ban] has had a very positive impact on us."Hong Kong and Kowloon Jade Merchants Association chairman Ben Chui Wing-hun said the new concentrated format created a win-win situation for consumers and merchants."Under the mall management and supervision, consumers can have confidence and a guarantee," Chui said. "A lot of tourists, because they know the heritage of Jade Street, will visit the area and chance upon the mall. It gives consumers another option for jewellery shopping."Rent starts at HK$20,000 a month and includes security measures – closed-circuit television, safes and insurance. But the biggest thing the mall provided was marketing, Wong said."If you open your own store somewhere, you're not going to spend tens of thousands of dollars marketing it every month," he said. "Locals know that legal oversight is very strict and jewellery stores won't try to pull a fast one, but the tourists don't know that. So to help them feel confident, the Hong Kong Jewellery Association will set up shop on the third floor and will provide verification.""Week after week we're seeing growth. We now have about 300 to 500 customers a day. Within the first week, we were getting word of mouth referrals," he said.迷你倉尖沙咀