Mumbai the City of Dreams has another reason to celebrate, as Bandra, is hosting ‘Icon Avenue Bandra Jewellery Shopping Festival.' Bandra, better known as the 'Queen of the Suburbs'in Mumbai houses a couple of streets called Turner Road and Waterfield Road which have some of the best names in jewellery and luxury lifestyle shopping. Icon Avenue incorporates the same space and is planned to be the ultimate shopping paradise with over 30 flagship jewellery, fashion and lifestyle stores, offering an unparalleled retail experience.

Ashish Shelar, Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly launched Icon Avenue and declared the Shopping Festival open. Associated partners of the Icon Avenue Bandra Jewellery Shopping Festival include HQ Salons, Akina, The White Door as gifting partner, and eLar managing the event. Special associates include BMC, RTO and the Mumbai Police Department.

There is a sparkling display of lights and installations through-out the patch and visitors can expect a plethora of activities, deals, discounts, lucky draws and musical events in addition to the latest collections in fashion and jewellery across the two streets called Icon Avenue.

“Icon Avenue is planned keeping global luxury shopping destinations like the GoldSouk in Dubai and high-streets like the Oxford Street in London or Bahnhoffstrasse Street in Zurich” says Rajiv Popley of Popley Group and adds, “This is more of a community initiative than just a business proposition or a marketing and branding thing. Icon Avenue is not just that we want to do it for Diwali and then forget it. This is not a marketing initiative, not to give discounts to customers and make it a sales gimmick. Icon Avenue is a very serious subject where service to the client is service to the society as well. We have written applications to BMC and got confirmed commitments about maintaining the roads and the police department who have appointed 10 marshalls to take care of the traffic.”

Participating jewellers include Mahesh Notandass, Jet Gems Jewellery, AK Motiwala Jewellers, Popley & Sons, TDF Diamond Factory, Dhanraj Jewellery, Popley Eternal, Gehna Jewellers, Anmol Jewellers, Ghana Singh Be True Jewellery, AS Motiwala Jewellery, Notandas & Sons, Zevar by Valchandson, Mehta Brothers Jewellers, Pernia’s Pop-Up Studio, Time Avenue, Art of Time, Sambhav Mehta Jewels, Rajesh Tulsiani Diamond Jewellers, Razwada Diamond Jewellery, AA Motiwala Jewellers, Bharat Sons Jewellers, Lalchand Dhalamall Sons, Diamantina Fine Jewels, De Beers Forevermark, Tisya Jewels, Farah Khan Fine Jewellery, Dolson Jewels and Jeweleravi.    

Diwali is the festival of lights and now a festival of jewellery as well with Icon Avenue says Suraj Popley of Popley Eternal. “It the best time of the year for shopping gold or diamond jewellery and Icon Avenue has been conceptualized to create an international luxury shopping experience by the younger generation of Mumbai’s top jewellers. Vandana and Mohit are the torch bearers of Icon Avenue where they have been instrumental and quite active on the forefront. Together with the jewellers they have planned a line-up of exciting events. Influencers have been invited to make a splash across social media.”

Mohit Jethani of Jet Gems tells us how a few jewellers wanted to do his for the last 3-4 years. “It was always discussed and no one took the initiative. This year some of us got a bit aggressive about it and launched this as a community effort. It is about the community coming together. Right now we are a collective of mostly jewellery retail stores and a few other categories as well, eventually we hope all from Bandra come together to create improvement in the neighbourhood.

Turner Road is the hub of luxury products and high end retail; we are the ones who can create such an activity. All luxury fashion brands, high-end fashion and related brands have joined in an effort to make a difference. When we go to London, France, Italy there are specific high streets where luxury shopping is an experience. Whereas in India, Mumbai we do not have a demarcated high-street as a luxury shopping destination where live events are a norm and there are activities throughout the year, not just during the festive season. We have worked closely with eh BMC, Traffic Police, the local Police, Ashish Shelar. We have planned very nice street light on the streets throughout the years adding to the experience.

Vandana Jagwani tells us that they planned this festival in 20 days flat! “It was amazing to get all of this together in a span of just 20 days and finnaly launched yesterday amidst much joy and fanfare by Ashish Shelar. Icon Avenue has cool fire, confetti, we have a panel of 4-5 people who are handling varius aspects of it. We have planned experiential and digital marketing, elaborate media coverage in print and across social media. We have appointed 2 influencers per store for 20 days; every store has décor; we have another exclusive wine and cheese event coming up on October 11, with each participant getting an opportunity to display their jewellery….the list is exciting and there’s more. The entire street and the vibe on the street is unmatched. We could have some live performances every week on the street too,” she quips.

Mahesh Notandass of Mahesh Notandass Jewellers says that this initiative will spell out Bandra’s Turner Road as a destination for shopping, luxury and jewellery. “Icon Avenue Festival is planned to make Bandra, Turner Road a prominent destination for the jewellery lover, a proper Diwali shopping experience and a festival to celebrate luxury throughout the year. Lots of exciting offers and gifts have been planned together by the jewellers community for the clients make it an ideal destination for shopping. My daughter Vandana Jagwani and Mohit of Jet Gems have taken this initiative and worked towards making this dream into a reality.”

Icon Avenue offers the highest quality products the city has to offer. From exquisite gem-encrusted ornaments and intricately crafted diamond pieces to designer hand-embroidered outfits and exquisite timepieces, Icon Avenue flanked by concept stores, restaurants, bars and gleaming displays is truly a shopper’s paradise with the opportunity to explore the city’s most impressive suburb.