Kerala based Joyalukkas has also opened a 5,000 square feet store on Camac Street, Kolkatta, the same location where TBZ and Malabar already have big showrooms.

What exactly has been happening in this small town? Three big brand retailers all jostling for space on the main street? With buyers increasingly becoming more brand conscious, consumers are thronging branded jewellery stores, who together reportedly sell 250 kilograms daily on an average in just this one town in Kolkatta.

"Customers in smaller towns have a fetish for all kinds of gold jewellery and they now want jewelleries that have a contemporary appeal,'' said Nilesh Parekh of Shree Ganesh Jewellery House, which retails gold jewellery under the brand name Gaja.

He added that there is a definite market for branded jewellery, especially if something is aimed at the younger generation, which wants to buy fashionable real, authenticate gold jewellery in smaller towns.