JEWELLERS IN EAST LONDON ARE branding Green Street as a dynamic shopping hub for the best in South Asian jewellery style, catering increasingly to Western tastes. Green Street in Newham is a dynamic blend of South Asian jewellery shops, sari boutiques, confectioners and restaurants, as well as Bollywood DVD outlets, interspersed with mainstream stores and banks. The sights, sounds and aromas of Green Street are a reminder of everyday life in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the area is home to immigrants from all over the world. Green Street is best known for its cosmopolitan jewellers.
Around two dozen jewellery shops cluster along Green Street, each offering a wide variety of designs in traditional 22k gold for South Asian weddings, as well as diamond jewellery and gemstones, and costume jewellery to suit all tastes. Most of Green Street’s customers have South Asian roots. As time marches on, their tastes are changing and many now seek Western styles, increasingly in white gold and platinum, with diamond jewellery more and more popular for weddings. “The Green Street Jewellers’ Association (GSJA) wants to change the public perception about jewellery on Green Street,” said Vikram Santilal, the Vice-Chairman.
OPPORTUNITIES ~ Green Street’s retailers see the 2012 London Olympics in nearby Stratford as a vital opportunity to increase tourist spending. Green Street strongly supports London Jewellery Week, a series of events around the capital from June 7-13 to showcase the best of British talent in the industry. The jewellers are staging promotional activities throughout London Jewellery Week, including the launch of “Discover Jewellery” in which several tell their own stories.
Newham is set to change substantially in the next few years as part of the regeneration of one of the most depressed areas of London coinciding with the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, and this will create new retail opportunities for Green Street.
EXOTIC ROOTS ~ Many of Green Street’s family- owned jewellers have roots in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East and Africa. They have fascinating histories passing through several generations of jewellers.
Some jewellers left their homes in India over a century ago and travelled far to Africa in search of a new beginning and a better life for their families. Through hard work and enterprise, they built up their businesses and honed their craft to serve local markets, discerning what their customers wanted and providing new products and improved service.
In the past 20 years Green Street has changed markedly, expanding as new jewellers arrived, and now offering a broader range of jewellery from fabulous diamond wedding sets costing tens of thousands of pounds to economically priced costume jewellery for everyday wear.
JEWELLERY MEETS FASHION ~ The jewellers compliment the sari shops on Green Street. Brides can spend a pleasant day matching up their wedding saris and their jewels, and take a break for a coffee or lunch.
“If more people come to Green Street for jewellery, they are more likely to pop in to my shop too,” said Shipa Parekh of Dulhan, a sari boutique. Kulwinder Sanghera of Partap Fashion also sees the wider advantages to Green Street’s retailers from the branding of its jewellers. “We are already known on Green Street as a hot spot for South Asian fashion.”
It is not just the fashion retailers who will benefit from increased footfall. Confectioners and restaurants will be winners too. “If more people come to Green Street for jewellery, they will definitely want to try our pastries too! – we do gift wrap for weddings” said Mohammad Rizwan, an employee at Ambala, whose slogan is “The finest Asian confectionery.”
SHOPPING HUB ~ Shamim Ahmed of Aura, a clothing retailer, has a vision of Green Street becoming a major shopping attraction for South Asian style, whether in jewellery, fashion or cuisine. “I want everyone to know Green Street as a shopping hub with an ethnic flavour.”