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Boby Kurian

BANGALORE, May 31

THE city headquartered national branded jewellers, Tanishq and Oyzterbay, are looking at their third exclusive boutiques in Bangalore.

The two-year-old Oyzterbay may open its third store in Malleswaram, while Tanishq is reportedly scouting for real estate in the northern parts of the city, with RT Nagar being the preferred location. In fact, Tanishq's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Jacob Kurian, confirmed to this newspaper the company's plans for a third store in Bangalore.

Tanishq, the jewellery division of Titan Industries, opened its company-owned first store spread over 3,200 sq ft on Dickenson Road. In recent months, it moved into the city's southern outskirts of Jayanagar with a relatively smaller store of 880 sq ft. "There was some apprehension whether the second store would impact sales in our Dickenson Road boutique. But it was misplaced,'' Mr Kurian said.

Oyzterbay's 600 sq ft first store opened on Commercial Street. Its second store, all of 400 sq ft, is also located in Jayanagar, underlining the area's importance as an emerging retail destination in the city. It must also be mentioned that Oyzterbay has two shop-in-shop outlets in the two retail chains — Shoppers' Stop and Lifestyle.

For Tanishq, the third store will catapult Bangalore as its biggest market outside Mumbai and New Delhi where it has four stores each.

Interestingly, the traditional jewellers in the city have also been talking about expanding their retail presence. The close to 100-year-old Jewels de Paragon (JDP) is a case in point. Bangalore's other traditional jewellery names include Ganjam, CKC and Navrathan.

JDP plans to add two stores in Malleswaram and Jayanagar, indicating the expansion of the city's retail business to the outskirts.

In fact, the real estate price of commercial properties in established business centres like Brigade Road and Commercial Street has been under pressure for a while.

The average price on Brigade and Commercial Street has remained stagnant between Rs 180 and Rs 200 per sq ft, while it has been rising in places such as Jayanagar where the average asking price is now estimated at around Rs 130 per sq ft. Retailers are of the opinion that people visit Brigade Road and Commercial Street more for sight-seeing, while destinations like Jayanagar attract customers with the intention of buying.

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