Bond Street Jewellers London
Boomtime For Boodles
BRITISH businesses at the top of their sector are often household names. So it’s a little odd that Boodles — the jeweller founded in 1798 and which now employs its sixth generation of the family — is less wellknown than, say, the likes of Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany’s.
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Known or not, though, things are going well for this venerable seller of sparkly stuff: in 2007, Boodles opened its shop on Bond Street, and has others including one in the Royal Exchange, Sloane Street and Harrods. This is to add to shops in Dublin, Manchester and Chester, and its head office in Liverpool.
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Its turnover last year was £45m. Even with an economic downturn looming, MD Michael Wainwright is confident this success can only continue. “This is a fantastic time for jewellery in London because such a variety of things are going on,” he says. “At the top end it is unrivalled in the world — Bond Street has no equal. If you ask Geneva, New York or Paris, the perceived old capitals of jewellery, they would admit that London now leads the world.”
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Despite the recent onset of economic uncertainty in this country, Wainwright explains the strength of the market is largely due to our wealthy foreigners, which might explain Boodles’s relative low profile. “Credit crunch or no, London has become the capital of the world, which is why it’s now occupied by a tremendous number of wealthy international people — people from Asia, the Far East and Russia want second homes here.
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“But there are a lot more wealthy British people around too, demanding a greater choice and greater value pieces. Take the Sunday Times Rich List — you have to be a lot richer to get onto it now than 10 years ago.”
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IMMUNE
So part of the continued success is down to wealthy foreigners, but could it also be that jewellery is as immune to downturns as art is proving to be? “When people get wealthier, they make sure they have a nice home, a second home and cars,” Wainwright explains. “Then they want heirlooms, things to enjoy, things to hand down to the next generation — jewellery fits in there. It’s a very emotional gift; far more than others.
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“Men who have been busy earning lots of money might not have had time to spend with their loved one. A lot of them want to reward their wife with an emotional gift rather than something that benefits both of them.”
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With the rise of the wealthy foreigner — many of whom are hardly known for understated dress — isn’t there a risk to the jewellery’s style? “A lot of Russian people are sophisticated in their taste,” Wainwright says, reading my mind. “It’s more sophisticated than blingy. Bling will only ever have a limited audience. Superior designs, stones in sophisticated designs. That’s what people are after.”
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With jewellery at an all-time high in London and making record sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s around the world, it smacks of a sound investment. Wainwright says that Boodles doesn’t sell on those terms. But he also says that diamonds have done very well recently.
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“Diamonds over two carats have been an unbelievable investment in the last three to four years. They’ve far outperformed any paper assets,” Wainwright adds.
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DIMINISHING SUPPLY
What kind of growth are we talking about? Wainwright says that a large, good quality three-carat diamond would have doubled in value in the past two years. Nor does this trend look likely to end any time soon because of diminishing supply and the demand from emerging countries.
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He adds: “There are so many new wealthy people coming into the market, especially from China and India, who want nice quality diamonds — these countries are now adding to the old established markets in America and Europe.
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“At the same time, the number of diamonds being mined is going down, sobarring a catastrophic downturn in the world, it should keep going. Diamonds are where the action is — nothing else really merits a mention.”
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Additional Reading:
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Diamond Imports
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On this day, the last Allied troops in Europe evacuate Dunkirk as the Germans arrive. After the capitulation of Belgium's King Leopold II and the fall of the Netherlands, the Allied defense of Western Europe became untenable. Hundreds of thousands of British and French troops raced to Dunkirk on the Belgium coast, where a massive naval evacuation was promptly improvised. All available boats, including small fishing vessels, were pressed into service. The 10-day evacuation, the largest of its kind in history, saved 338,000 Allied troops from capture by the Nazis. On June 4, 1940, the Germans closed in on Dunkirk, capturing 40,000 Allied troops who had arrived too late to reach the safety of the British isle.
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