IG BUSINESS

BY RAJESH GHADGE

Starting from one outlet in Dadar, Mumbai, today Asavari runs around 15 outlets across Maharashtra and Goa. Pednekar Jewellers, was established in 1962 by her father-in-law and has now become one of the biggest brands in the jewellery segment. A vast amount of effort and hard work has gone into making this brand what it is today and in this episode of IG Business, we are going to take a look at Pednekar Jewellers' journey from a single shop in Mumbai to 15 outlets across Maharashtra and Goa.

“My father-in-law started this business around 60 years back in Dadar, Mumbai just near the station in a small shop, ” said Asavari adding that he was initially doing only jobs for the other established jewellers in Mumbai. “He used to provide gold ornaments created by him with unique designs, to many established brands such as Waman Hari Pethe, but soon he realised that if he wants to grow then he needs to create his own brand. He was a visionary, and he made true his dream of his own shop where he could display all his unique designs and the first s h o p i n D a d a r c a m e i n t o existence.” “Soon the shop at Dadar had a lot of custom and it was transformed into a bigger place resulting in one of the most popular stores today it is our flagship shop thus generating maximum business,” she said with a proud smile. When I asked Asavari how she entered this business, she told me that she is an architect by profession and was married into the Pednekar family at a very young age. “I was just 19 when I got married. In fact, I was supposed to go to the US to do my Masters but after getting married everything changed. I thought of staying in India and helping my husband in this business since there was a need for expansion and branding to make this greater.” Asavari made efforts to first understand the business. “I started going to the shop to learn everything there is to know about gold, silver and diamonds. I took a different course to understand the jewellery business,” she said. Asavari says that it is her fatherin-law who was her main support system in this. “He taught me everything right from scratch. Things were not difficult to understand since I am a creative person, an artist and a designer by profession and I like creativity. When I entered into this business, I realised that people will come only when we provide them with something different from what they can get elsewhere. My idea was to create a niche in the market wherein the customer would believe that they have to go to Pendekar Jewellers if they want something different.” My father-inlaw gave me a m a n t r a . He said 'If y o u d o somethi n g differ e n t t h a n what others are doing, only then will you stand out in the market and you n e e d t o t a k e that extra effort.' It was the most i m p o r t a n t business lesson I have learned and then there was no looking back,” said Asavari. “My two s o n s a n d daughters-in-law h e l p m e i n t h i s business. Our entire family is devoted to it. Every morning we come to the shop and discuss the plan of action for the whole day. My husband is the backbone of this business and he l o o k s a f t e r t h e overall working of the shops and how to expand while I am more into the creative side and I look a f t e r t h e c o s t u m e r s a n d marketing and I guess I'm the face of the business.”

“When the plans for expansion came to the table I was not in favour of it and I told my husband that instead of expanding, we should rather concentrate on the existing shop and make it better. He told me that only when we expand, w e w i l l

h a v e presenc e i n m o r e locati o n s a n d peop

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d o n ' t h a v e t o travel to M u m b a i to come t o Pednekar Jewellers. W i t h a change in lifestyle and b u s y s c h e d u l e s , people don't w a n t t o travel and it w a s o n l y after adding two to three m o r e s h o p s did I realised that what my husband said was right.” E x h i b i t i o n s were the next p a r t o f t h e expansion. “I used to visit m a n y exhibitions and then it struck me that if I myself exhibit the Pednekar brand, it will create more demand and increase sales,” she said. I must say that Goa helped me to grow and establish the presence of the Pednekar brand in the state. When I started doing exhibitions I kept two things in mind: first, the product has to be pocket-friendly and second the design needs to create a major impact. Hence, I started creating the designs having understood the lifestyle of the people.” Asavari has been attending exhibitions for a decade now but she had to face many difficulties along the way. “I had faced many difficulties such as arranging the location, to getting things fixed but whatever the situation was, I never turned my back to it. I went head on and made sure that the exhibitions were a complete success. ” she said. Asavari proudly tells me that they have presence across Maharstra and Goa. “In Dadar we have three shops, Vashi, Dombivali, Panvel, Virar, Mulund and Goregaon 1 each, then we have in Ratnagiri, Chiplun and now in two in Goa. “My husband is actually from Pernem and I am from Konkan Vengurla. We love Konkan and I love Goa. Currently we have our house in Aldona and when we come to Goa we visit that place,” she said adding that she has big plans in Goa. “I want to expand this business in Goa. We are looking for a bigger premises in Panaji to begin with to cater to the creativity that Panaji lacks at the moment and from the small place we have, we are unable to cater to that segment at the moment.” “Even if we have many shops in Goa, I will still continue with the exhibitions,” said Asavari. She has also lanched a new saree brand c a l l e d J a y a s h r e e . “ W e manufacture our own sarees and w e h a v e t i e d u p w i t h handlooms,” she said.

Asavari Pednekar