Thaindian News

Islamabad, Feb 9 (IANS) Jewellery seems to have lost its sheen as a Valentine’s Day gift of love as jewellers here are seeing a decline in sales.Youngsters rushing to find the perfect present for their loved one are making a beeline for gift shops and high-end accessories retailers, leading to a boom in their sales.

For jewellers, who earlier cashed in on Valentine’s Day sales, are witnessing a gradual decline in business related to the day over the past couple of years.

“As the prices of gold have gone up significantly, sales during Valentine’s Day are nearing to none,” the Express Tribune daily Wednesday quoted Aftab Ahmed of Hira’s Jewellery as saying.

He said that five years ago his Valentine’s Day collection would get sold out completely.

“But now there is no market.”

The store is known for accurately replicating Chopard, Cartier and Bvlgari designs.

“We do not copy for the sake of copying. The problem is that we do not have young designers competing in the market, and as a result our clients want us to replicate designs of international designers,” said Ahmed.

Sajid Ahmed of Gold ‘n’ Craft said as gold prices have reached Rs.46,000 per 12.5 grams, it has become “almost impossible” for the youth to afford fine jewellery.

“Around five years ago, we were able to create and sell items between Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000…But now just the costs are so outrageously high that no one is willing to buy fine jewellery,” Sajid was quoted as saying.

Though there has been a dip in gold jewellery sales, the sale of silver jewellery has shot up.

Youngsters, who don’t have a big budget, are going for silver jewellery embellished with rubies, emeralds and sapphires as an economical alternative.

Sajjid Mahmood of Kundan Point, a store that deals in silver jewellery, said: “The higher prices of gold have boosted our business.”

“People prefer to buy our products on Valentine’s Day as it is of the same quality but much cheaper.”