Hyderabad: For decades, a visit to Hyderabad’s Old City was almost incomplete without stepping into a pearl shop. Tourists came looking for the little white spheres that had become inseparable from the city’s identity. Today, the pearls still shine like they did a decade back; what has changed is the people’s buying habits.“People have stopped associating the city with its pearl market; footfall in shops has declined over the past few years and people have also shifted to buying products online,” said Manish Gupta of Omprakash and Sons pearl store near Charminar,reflecting a sentiment shared by traders in the Old City. Shopkeepers who have spent years, and in some cases generations, in the business say the market has become harder to sustain, with fewer casual buyers and tourists reluctant to make the journey to the traditional shopping lanes.For traders, the slowdown is the result of changing consumer preferences, increased competition, fewer tourists visiting the Old City. “Business has declined by around 20% over the past year. During peak seasons earlier, at least 12 to 15 customers would make purchases, while now, even during the holiday season, only five to eight customers visit, often just to browse,” said a shopkeeper manning Maruti Pearls store in Pathergatti.Others were less inclined to quantify the decline, saying it is part of a broader shift in consumer spending patterns.“The business does not survive on its own; one has to keep working at it,” said a shopkeeper at Watan Pearls which in the business since 1955, not too far away from Charminar, adding that periods of sluggish demand are common and that recovery is only a matter of time.“People’s fashion choices have changed, with the younger generation looking for something trendier. The age-old style of pearls is no longer as appealing,” said Subhash Sharma of Kamakshi Pearl Shop, also located the neighbourhood that’s been impacted by the drop in footfall.While some feel that the the “novelty factor of pearls has worn off” with buying pearls “no longer being an experience tourists want to captute”, others attribute the dip to tourism in Hyderabad becoming “more dispersed, and visitors arriving for work or official engagements” with little reason to travel to the Old City.“Also, the growth of jewellery stores in newer commercial areas has given tourists more options closer to where they stay or work,” added a trader.Ironically, pearls themselves have not become less accessible. “Those who know exactly what they want continue to buy pearls enthusiastically. The challenge is getting people through the door in the first place,” said a seller from Mangatrai Ramkumar pearls shop. Much of the trade now depends on imported pearls, with traders sourcing supplies from countries such as China and South Korea. Import costs remain relatively low, enabling sellers to offer products across a wide price range, shopkeepers added.Some traders say they are also battling a different challenge: a widespread misconception among customers that pearls sold in Hyderabad are no longer genuine. “The biggest issue is that many people are not aware of how to distinguish genuine pearls from artificial ones. Genuine pearls can vary in lustre, shape, roundness and texture, whereas artificial pearls are mass-produced and tend to have a uniform appearance,” said Siddharth a pearl seller. “Customers should do their research and understand these differences before making a buy,” he added.
