The Dubai-based leading gold jewellery retail chain major, Joy Alukkas Group is establishing the world’s largest gold & diamond jewellery store in Chennai’s Usman Road, known as the gold hub of the city.
It has picked up 80,000 sq ft of retail space in Prashanth Gold Tower, being jointly promoted by actor Thiagarajan and property developer, Real Value Promoters. The store is slated to open by mid-June this year.
Prashanth Gold Tower, coming up on Usman Road in T Nagar, offers one lakh sq ft of retail space. While 80% of the space has been picked up by Joy Alukkas, the rest has been taken up by a few diamond brands for establishing boutique stores, besides banks picking up space for bullion trading.
“Joy Alukkas is establishing the world’s largest jewellery store in Chennai and the necessary agreements have been signed just about a couple of days back,” Mr Thiagarajan, chairman, Prashanth Gold Tower told ET.
“The required space to house Joy Alukkas’ largest store has been jointly provided by Real Value and Mr Thiagarajan,” Mr V S Suresh, managing director, Real Value Promoters, which is developing properties in Chennai, Coimbatore and Bangalore, said.
Joy Alukkas Group is not only the world’s leading 22-carat jewellery retailer, but also one of world prominent gold retail chain, with about 64 showrooms in seven countries. While it has several showrooms in the Middle East, where it has a two-decade presence in countries like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, it has recently opened one in London.
In India, the group made its presence in 2002 by opening outlets the state of Kerala. In addition, it has stores in Delhi and Hyderabad, besides two in Tamil Nadu at Madurai and Coimbatore. Its India plans, apart from the largest showroom being planned in Chennai, include showrooms in Salem and Thirunelveli in Tamil Nadu and Bangalore in Karnataka over the next couple of months.
“The Chennai store will be our 16th in India and definitely the largest showroom in the world. We are planning to bring leading diamond brands, besides jewellery from Turkey and Singapore to offer not only the traditional but also designer jewellery,” Mr Tom Jose, heading Indian operations of Joy Alukkas told ET.
According to him, the store will target not only the traditional buyers of gold (women) but also the teens and kids. It will also offer special platinum jewellery for men. “While interior work has already started, we need over three months to get the store ready. It should be open by mid-June, when the Gold Tower is launched,” Mr Jose said.
