The Hindu Business Line : Gold souk to be set up in Chennai by year-end

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Chennai March 2 Chennai may have its own gold souk by the end of this year. Developed on the lines of gold souks in the Gulf countries, `The Souk, Chennai,' as it will be called, would be a 8-lakh sq ft mall on the GST road.

Speciality retail real estate developer Aerens Goldsouk International Ltd is building the mall. Its first souk in Gurgaon, set up a few years ago on 1.8 lakh sq ft, houses over 100 jewellery brands and outlets. Each outlet today sells about Rs 3-lakh worth of jewellery per day.

Buoyed by this, the company set up another souk in New Delhi. Last July it decided to build 100 souks in India in the next 100 months.

Talking to Business Line on the sidelines of the Gem and Jewellery India International Exhibition (GJIIE) 2007, Mr G.S. Pillai, Director, Aerens Goldsouk, said the company had started constructing souks in Ludhiana, Jaipur and Kochi and would soon start work in Chennai and Amritsar. Each souk would be spread across 8-10 lakh sq ft and cost Rs 80-100 crore excluding land cost.

Besides jewellery stores, these souks will also have restaurants, toilets, multiplex cinema screens and high-end lifestyle brands dealing in leather goods, luggage, wedding attire for men and women and watches.

"We are also planning to add some budget hotels inside the souk so that people travelling from far off places can stay the night and shop the next day," said Mr Pillai. All souks would come up at city outskirts and near highways so that people can have a traffic-free drive and enjoy shopping, he said.

The Chennai souk will be able to house 500 stores. Mr Pillai said this would help small players compete with established jewellery brands on a common platform. "A small jeweller today is likely to be overshadowed by established jewellers if he sets up shop in T. Nagar (Chennai's jewellery hub). But at the souk, no matter how small a space he takes up, he can innovatively showcase his products to gain visibility," he said.

In Tamil Nadu, more souks are planned in Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli.

The company is also targeting overseas markets to set up `India Souk,' a mall with goods imported from India. These could include art, crafts, jewellery, sculpture, handloom work and furniture besides Indian food. "We are looking at the US, UK, Thailand, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and will finalise a mall in at least one country this year," said Mr Pillai.

More Stories on : Gems & Jewellery | Real Estate & Construction | Tamil Nadu

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