Westfield Bondi Junction’s youngest leaseholder talks all things Alana Maria

“Our community is at the heart of everything we do, without them, Alana Maria Jewellery is nothing”

The post Westfield Bondi Junction’s youngest leaseholder talks all things Alana Maria appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.

The face and hands behind Alana Maria Jewellery is Alana Ellis, a 26-year-old from Sydney’s Northern Beaches who has nurtured a passion for jewellery design since primary school, when she began selling beaded bracelets to her peers. 

In high school, Ellis experimented with the raw materials and dainty designs the brand is known for today. 

In 2022, she became Westfield Bondi Junction’s youngest leaseholder and navigating the agreements for her three stores has taught her a lot about holding her own in a corporate environment as an entrepreneur in her early 20s.

“Worldwide domination is not off the cards and if I could open a store on the moon, I would. We see ourselves continuing to expand nationally,” Ellis, told Inside Retail.

Securing the tenancy for the Westfield Bondi Junction store was a much bigger challenge than the brand’s leases in Freshwater and Byron Bay, NSW.

“I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the noise, our Bondi store is so special,” Ellis said.

“All signs were saying this was too big of a risk, I knew in my gut that that was my store and I just had to trust myself and my brand, she added.

Eponymous Alana Maria Ellis

Ellis created the brand’s e-commerce site in 2018 after years of selling out of her bedroom and mailbox exchanges.

Three months after the website was launched Ellis locked in her first bricks-and-mortar store in the Sydney suburb of Freshwater. This was soon followed by a second store in Byron Bay and the third Bondi Junction flagship in October 2022 – where her creations sit alongside Australia’s largest retailers.

The store features a custom-designed light fixture to resemble a pearl necklace, a marble feature wall and countertops imported from Italy. “We left no stone unturned” in bringing the vision of the brand to life, Ellis said.

“If you could take a look inside my mind, you would see our Bondi store,” she said.

The introduction of AMJ Forever is the brand’s unique take on the popular trend of permanent jewellery. As a feature on the shop floor, it also “gives customers a glimpse at our production practices as our jewellers assemble the customer’s bespoke design before their eyes,” Ellis said.

Another recent introduction is in-store engraving. It’s an interactive experience that enables customers to have a drawing, picture, symbol, date or initial engraved onto a pendant that they can then have attached a necklace or bracelet.

The brand has gone global with Los Angeles pop-ups and a billboard in New York City’s Times Square.

Looking to the future, Ellis is determined to propel the brand to even higher heights and to continue creating jewellery that embodies sentiment and luxury alongside a growing team of 50 employees.

A different kind of gold

Much like fashion, jewellery trends come and go, and whilst Alana Maria tailors its product offering to these consumer trends, “ultimately we make decisions based on what our customers want from us,” Ellis said.

Gold prices rose 15 per cent in 2023 to reach US$2,078/oz and continue to reach newhighs, driven by a multitude of factors including heightened geopolitical risks. The price of gold is projected to average US$2,500/oz in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to JP Morgan commodities research.

Alana Maria is known for its gold-filled styles, which infuse 14-karat gold into a base metal. Unlike plating, gold-filled jewellery has similar properties solid gold, giving customers the lasting quality of solid gold but for the same price as gold plated. 

“This means that our jewellery lasts and is affordable,” Ellis said.

Quality jewellery is no longer reserved for those who can afford it, and Ellis believes the jewellery industry will continue to modernise with the innovation of materials and technology.

“Our manufacturing is what truly sets us apart from others on the market,” Ellis said.

A team of 16 jewellers manufacture all Alana Maria creations in-house, as the brand has done from the very beginning. 

“Having our assembly line at our fingertips gives us so much control over our timelines, quality, and demand, this gives us the ability to adapt to the changing needs of our customers and trends,” Ellis said.

The brand controls its wastage by making everything to order. Every morning, the team of jewellers receives a list of what was ordered overnight, which they then start crafting.

Ellis said that sustainability is not a new trend to jump on, but rather a foundational tenet of the business.

“We pledge to continue evolving in a sustainable, slow and circular way,” Ellis said.

Sydney launchpad

The brand remains tapped into its community by hosting consumer events in its stores and interacting with customers across its social channels.

“Our community is at the heart of everything we do. Without them, Alana Maria Jewellery is nothing and [it] will always be a priority to nurture and grow our audience,” Ellis said.

“Customer experience is something we place a big focus on both in-store and online, and in prioritising that, we’re able to build trust and loyalty.

“I’ll never forget cutting the ribbon to our Bondi store to over 200 customers – the first group in line got there at 4 am.”

The post Westfield Bondi Junction’s youngest leaseholder talks all things Alana Maria appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.