A mecca for money
The jewelry industry is betting that gamblers in Macau have cash to spare
When Portuguese traders arrived in Macau in the middle of the 16th century, they brought spices from Mozambique, textiles from Goa and cobblestones from their native Portugal (to serve as much needed ballast). Five centuries later, the mercantile seeds of that effort have spawned the globe’s hottest gambling destination — a tropical enclave on the western lip of the Pearl River Delta where Portuguese, Chinese and gaming cultures collide. Even though most visitors come from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to indulge a passion for baccarat, enough people are splurging on Rolex watches and Piaget jewels to have transformed Macau into Asia’s most talked-about jewelry destination.
Photo provided courtesy of the Macau Government Tourist Board
Jewelry stores are largely housed inside the major casinos: the Wynn, the year-old Venetian, the brand-new MGM, not to mention old standbys like billionaire Stanley Ho’s Casino Lisboa and its luxurious sister property, the Grand Lisboa. As in most new money capitals, the stores represent well-established brands with strong financial backing from European luxury goods conglomerates like Richemont, LVMH and Gucci. But a few independent players are also betting big on Macau’s potential. Diamond SA, a Shanghai-based jewelry chain owned by an Israeli-South African expatriate, operates a boutique in the Venetian and is planning to open another one in the Wynn. President Eyal Bafri expects to have four shops open here by 2010.
Mad money Billionaire Stanley Ho’s Casino Lisboa has a slew of new competitors. The Wynn Macau Resort, for example, is a doppelgänger of the Las Vegas property, and sells scores of Piaget pendants like the one above.
