Stone Mania, How It All Began
The story of Stone Mania began on a scorching hot day in Delhi in 2001. A visit to a street market and the random purchase of some jewellery led to a journey that has taken me around the world and given me more enjoyment than I could ever have imagined.
The last twenty years have been quite an adventure. It hasn't always been easy, but it's certainly been worthwhile.
Growing up in a quiet north London suburb, I spent more time than I care to remember working with my dad in a south London market.
Market life, especially during the cold British winter, really wasn't for me. Ironically, many years later I found myself once again working in markets.
Having left school with only basic qualifications, I was offered a government-funded placement with Thomson Holidays, earning just £25 a week.
When the scheme ended after twelve months, I was offered a permanent job. I initially worked in Personnel, as it was once known, and then moved to Customer Relations. I then moved overseas to work as a holiday rep.
By 1989, I'd had enough and returned home. For the next six months I did temporary work while looking for another job.
Having seen an advertisement for Cabin Crew with a new airline called Virgin Atlantic, I applied. Less than three months later, I was operating my first flight to New York.
In 1990, Virgin Atlantic had six old Boeing 747s and flew to six destinations, five of which were in the U.S.
Exploring India
In 1999 a new route to Delhi was announced. The cabin crew initially had a five day layover so there was plenty of time to explore. I have great memories of those early days in India.
Despite the heat and dust, I spent every waking hour exploring the city enjoying the sights, sounds and smells. I loved every minute I was there.
Street markets in India are noisy, vibrant, and exciting places with plenty to see and buy.
While shopping for gifts, I decided on some jewellery but ended up with far more than I needed.
Once back in the UK, I gave some away and sold the rest on a new website called eBay.
With each subsequent trip to Delhi, I bought more silver and gemstone jewellery and before long, was buying from several retailers around the city
What began as a bit of fun quickly became more serious. By the summer of 2002, I had created a company called Silver People, built a website, and had taken a stall in Camden Market.
Later that year, I changed the business name to Stone Mania to reflect the style of jewellery I was buying.
The business took off and before long, I was struggling to bring back enough stock.
In the months that followed, I transferred to a part-time contract. Doing fewer flights each month meant that I could now travel to India on my days off using my staff concessions. That enabled me to spend more time buying stock and also to take on an additional market.
Over the next few months, the style of jewellery I bought gradually changed. Quality became my priority, and I also wanted to offer a wider selection of gemstones.
In my spare time, I read as much as I could about rocks, minerals and gemstones. With my newfound knowledge, I began writing articles for my website.
My newfound interest in rocks and minerals was ironic, considering my grandfather and great-grandfather had both been diamond polishers.
For the first couple of years, the type of jewellery I bought varied, but that changed after I was introduced to a new supplier.
This company specialised in pendants and rings and used a huge variety of gemstones.
The pieces I bought from them initially sold like hotcakes, and before long, I was bringing home up to a hundred kilos of jewellery at a time.
Although Stone Mania was doing well, by 2004, I was bored of buying ready-made jewellery.
Having discovered that Jaipur, in India, is where most of the world's coloured gemstones are cut and polished, I headed there to see what I could find.
After a challenging few days, I found a company that cut and polished gemstones from raw rocks and minerals. From that point, everything changed once again.
I was also introduced to a small team of artisans who, I was told, could handcraft the jewellery that I wanted.
Instead of buying ready-made pieces, I could now select my own gemstones and have each ring or pendant made by hand. This also allowed me to use a much higher purity of silver than what had been used in the jewellery I was buying previously.
Goodbye to Markets
The new style of jewellery I was having made was really too expensive for markets. Therefore, I decided to find a more suitable outlet.
In the early 2000s, shopping online, especially for jewellery, was still in its infancy.
Within a few months, I was travelling the length and breadth of the UK, doing county shows and retail events, which was a completely different environment from what I was used to.
With effective advertising, traffic to my website increased, and before long, it was generating a decent amount of business.
The Credit Crunch of 2008
Taking a stand at the London Ideal Home Show in 2006 was a risk and significant expense. Thankfully, it paid off and I returned for the next two years.
Although 2008 was profitable, takings were down, and there was talk of a looming credit crunch.
The atmosphere quickly changed, and consumers were being far more careful. Newspapers were full of doom and gloom, and while the events that I was doing remained busy, people were not spending anywhere near as much.
Stone Mania had come a long way since that first day in Camden Market, and I wasn't prepared to take any risks. The looming credit crunch was predicted to be the most significant economic downturn in many years.
I was sitting on a large amount of stock and had paid deposits for regional shows for the next twelve months. If they weren't profitable, I would be in serious trouble.
Every day, I heard stories about another business that had gone under.
Despite being an incredibly difficult decision, I cancelled all future shows and decided to trade solely online through my own website.
Over the next two years, many businesses I had worked alongside disappeared.
Although all my money was in stock, my expenses were minimal, and my online business remained fairly steady.
It was Christmas 2010 before sales really began to pick up. As consumer confidence returned, I decided it was time to change direction once again. The jewellery market was saturated, prices were cheaper than ever, and it was incredibly difficult to remain competitive.
The time had come for me to explore something else and crystals, rocks, minerals and gemstones were the obvious choice.
A few weeks later, I was on my way to Cape Town.
Crystals, Rocks, Minerals and Gemstones
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By 2012, I was once again trading in St. Albans market, but the high street had changed significantly. Many shops that had been there for years had closed down and been replaced with charity and discount stores.
It had always been difficult to get a place in this market, especially as a new trader, but that was no longer the case. On some Saturdays, there were plenty of empty stalls, which was, at one time, unheard of.
What had once been a large, bustling street market was now smaller and considerably quieter. Everything revolved around price, which meant the pendants in my collection were no longer as popular as they once were.
However, the crystals, rocks and minerals attracted considerable attention and sold well.
Christmas 2015 was one of the quietest I had ever known. There had been a surge in new traders in the market, most of whom were selling cheap imported products.
In the run-up to Christmas, we were trading every day, yet at times, the street was deserted.
Shopping habits were finally beginning to change, and most of my business was being done online through the Stone Mania website.
In 2016, the market was taken over by new management, and despite having been run in the same way for many years, they were intent on change.
Lack of experience and failure to engage with stallholders meant that new ideas didn't work and were not well received.
On a cold and very wet February afternoon, while serving customers, our entire stall suddenly tipped over backwards. It happened because our neighbours in the three adjoining units had removed horizontal supporting iron bars from their stalls. These were in place to stabilise the entire structure.
In this street market, each block was made up of six stalls attached to each other. On one side of the stall was a countertop, which traders selling clothes often removed. Removing the bars which supported the counter opened the stall up and enabled customers to walk through from either side.
While it was fine to do that with one or even two stalls, doing it with four in a block of six reduced the unit's stability.
As our neighbours started packing away and removed merchandise hanging on the front of the stall, rainwater that had accumulated in the back section of the overhead tarpaulins unbalanced the block.
Unlike us, they hadn't been draining the water out during the day, so as the front of the stalls became lighter, the entire block tipped over backwards.
The result was absolute carnage, and it was a miracle that nobody was hurt.
My entire stock was strewn across the pavement. Hundreds of tumbled stones and expensive gemstone pendants fell into a street drain. Beautiful stone spheres rolled across the road, and many natural crystals and minerals broke apart.
The market management took no responsibility and told me to sue my neighbours. I never returned to St Albans market and sued the council for enough money to replace my entire stock.
On a happier note, I spent a wonderful week in Cape Town and had a few amazing days at the Tucson Mineral Show in Arizona. By the end of both trips, my warehouse was once again bursting with amazing crystals, rocks, minerals and gemstones.
Following that horrendous day, I decided to say goodbye to market life for the third time in my life. Stone Mania now only trades online.
Stone Mania Today
Although we still have a small collection of pendants and rings, we haven't had any new jewellery made for several years. Stone Mania now focuses on crystals, rocks, minerals, and gemstones.
Over the last twenty years, I've learned so much about running a business and navigating difficult times. COVID-19 presented a whole new set of challenges, not only for Stone Mania but also for me personally.
In August 2020, amid the outbreak of COVID-19, I was made redundant. I had given thirty years of my life to Virgin Atlantic.
What happened in my last twelve months with the company is unbelievable and shocking. I have written a long blog telling my story, but I stopped writing additional chapters to focus on a book.
Having been bullied out of my job by a senior manager set on revenge, my mental health was decimated. Through my book, I intend to share the truth about what goes on behind the scenes at this company.
For the first time in my working life, I found myself without secure employment, so decided it was finally time to turn Stone Mania into a full-time business.
Thanks for reading my story. If you'd like to read my Blog, it's called "Being Cabin Crew, the Ugly Truth."
Article Photos
The first photo in this article was taken in 2002 on one of my first trading days in Camden market. The second was taken around 1996 in Upper Class on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747.
The shop in India is the first place where I bought jewellery specifically to sell.
The next photos are of my first two websites and early company logos. They're followed by my stall in St Albans Market (the first time around) and choosing gemstones in Jaipur, India.
My stall in three different county shows and the London Ideal Home Show are next, followed by my first buying trip to Cape Town.
The final photo was taken in St Albans market in 2016.
Most images are clickable and redirect to the original photo.
