SHUIBEI JEWELLERY DISTRICT SHENZHEN
Located in the centre of the Shuibei area in Luohu district, Shuibei Jewellery City is an amazing place for anyone interested in looking at or buying any sort of high quality jewellery. If you like jewellery, you can spend several hours walking along the Golden Trail, dropping into any of the stores that interest you gold, platinum, silver, jade, sapphires, garnets, diamonds or amber.
This is the place for genuine stones and pearls, made up in all kinds of designs. From low prices for small presents for friends, to eye-watering prices for stunning jewels every kind of jewellery is available.
You may go along one street and find the designs too classic and then go into one of the special buildings and stumble on something contemporary and unusual.
The Jewellery City takes up several city blocks, with scores of specialized malls. If you walk along the Golden Trail following the map displayed on posts in the area, you’ll find malls specializing in everything from jade to pearls to gold to silver. Often the side of a mall will feature a large photograph featuring the special jewellery available in that mall.
If you enjoy making your own jewellery, there are also stores selling everything you need for jewellery craft.
Sometimes the stores are up one flight of stairs, for security. Guards on the ground floor will show you upstairs. For example if you walk up one flight of stairs to a gold jewellery store, you may see a frenzy of traders buying and selling gold jewellery. On these floors, guards sit on elevated seats, like lifeguards, watching the hubbub below. All gold is sold by weight. Payment and receipts are handled in an office separate from the shop floor.
This is another area whose changes reflect Shenzhen’s transformation from a manufacturing centre to a service centre. The Shuibei district was one of the first factory areas of the city. The shapes of its buildings faithfully reflect its history. They are undistinguished five or six storey concrete buildings, built for usability. Over a period of time, the area became specialised in jewellery manufacture. Gradually manufacturers moved to lower rent with cheaper labour, but they still kept their administrative and sales offices in Shuibei.
In 2004 the City Planners, who tend to be a little bit behind what is actually happening, declared Shuibei Jewellery Centre a wholesale jewellery area. Of course, there are lots of wholesale buyers but retail sales make up an increasing part of the business. You can see this by the effort now revamping the exteriors and interiors of the buildings. You can try asking for a small discount but keep in mind that this is still primarily a wholesale centre. Vendors typically sell large quantities of jewellery items to retail distributors; though, they seem happy to make single sales to individuals too.
The Shenzhen government’s goal for Shuibei Jewellery City is to become the largest jewellery market in the world. The National Jewellery and Jade Quality Surveillance Centre keeps active in managing the centre and all goods are sold with a receipt.
They’ve made your visit to Shuibei easier by setting up the Golden Trail, a marked pathway through the buildings. You can see the trail marked on maps as you walk around. A good place to start is Gold Plaza at no 14 Shuibei 2nd Street. The trail marks nine stops, viz. Golden Trail, Crystal Plaza, Artiste Square, Art Gallery, Fashion Retail Centre, Wedding Pavilion, Celebration Square, Community Retail Centre and Inspiration Zone.
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