From A Market Stall To A National Brand.
A genuine story of how GoldBank grew from a small lock-up stall in Nottingham's Victoria Centre Market into an established jewellery business, a specialist team, a city-centre store and a brand that has now served more than 50,000 customers.
We All Have To Start Somewhere.
GoldBank Jewellers opened in November 2016 from a small lock-up stall in Nottingham's Victoria Centre Market.
At the beginning, it was just John and Shannon.
We didn't start with huge amounts of stock or financial backing. In fact, £1,500 was borrowed from John's grandad simply to give us the cash float we needed to start buying from customers.
There wasn't much jewellery in the counters either.
But from day one our ambitions were bigger than the stall.
We immediately began advertising on Capital and Smooth Radio, bringing customers into Victoria Centre Market specifically to visit GoldBank.
Slowly the customers came, the counters filled and GoldBank began to grow.
We Double In Size.
Just two years later, we'd grown enough to expand from our original lock-up into two units within Victoria Centre Market.
Tammy joined John and Shannon in 2018, beginning the growth of the GoldBank team alongside the business itself.
Our customer base continued to grow, the GoldBank name became increasingly established and we kept investing in the business and our advertising.
Through Covid.
Like almost every retail business, GoldBank faced the enormous disruption and uncertainty of the Covid pandemic.
We got through it and continued doing what we'd always done — buying and selling gold, jewellery and watches, looking after our customers and building the business.The Team Grows Again.
As customer numbers and the volume of business continued to increase, Reanne joined GoldBank in 2022.
The little operation that had started with John, Shannon, £1,500 and two silver bracelets was becoming a serious business.Our Biggest Market Store.
In 2023 we made another major investment and expanded into a huge customer-facing stall at the front of Victoria Centre Market.
Chana joined the team as we moved into our biggest and most ambitious premises yet.
Then Nottingham City Council decided to close Victoria Centre Market.
We had a choice.
We could sit back and wait for the slow decline of the market, or we could take control of GoldBank's future.
We were trading well, we believed enormously in the business and we chose the latter.
We Find 12 Exchange Walk.
Right in the heart of Nottingham city centre.
Moving GoldBank from the market into a major standalone jewellery store was going to require far more than simply finding a building.
Chris joined GoldBank in 2024 to help us make the move and put the systems and infrastructure in place that the business would need for its next stage of growth.
This was when GoldBank Competitions was born.Meanwhile, we committed to a huge investment in Exchange Walk and began a refurbishment that would take around six months to complete.
Building The Next GoldBank.
As we prepared for the biggest move in GoldBank's history, we weren't only investing in the building. We were investing in expertise.
Specialist watch knowledge added as GoldBank broadened what it could offer customers.
Specialist diamond knowledge strengthening GoldBank's jewellery expertise.
We wanted Exchange Walk to become much more than simply a bigger version of our market business. The ambition was to build a destination for buying, selling and eventually repairing luxury jewellery and watches.
The Doors Open.
After approximately six months of refurbishment, GoldBank Jewellers officially opened the doors to 12 Exchange Walk on 5 April 2025.
It was an enormous investment and a massive leap for the business. It has also proved to be massively worthwhile.
The new store has allowed us to grow virtually every part of GoldBank and we haven't looked back.The Same Ambition. A Completely Different Scale.
GoldBank Competitions Launches.
Opening Exchange Walk didn't mean we were going to sit still.
Just four months later, GoldBank Competitions officially launched.
The idea was to take something GoldBank already understood incredibly well — the real value of gold, jewellery and watches — and create an entirely new way for people to own extraordinary pieces.
Through GoldBank Competitions, customers can win hugely valuable jewellery, luxury watches, gold, silver and other prizes for a fraction of what they would normally cost.
Investing In Watches, Repairs And Expertise.
Liam joined GoldBank, adding further watch expertise and strengthening our growing watch repair and servicing operation.
Together, Colin, Malachi and Liam have brought specialist watch and diamond knowledge into the business. We're continuing to invest heavily in professional watchmaking equipment, facilities and expertise, allowing us to bring more specialist work in-house.
It's another important step towards the business we ultimately want GoldBank to become.
Telling The GoldBank Story.
James joined us as GoldBank's resident videographer and photographer, giving us professional photography and video capability in-house.
From photographing incredible jewellery and watches to filming our competition winners and documenting everyday life at GoldBank, we're now able to tell the story of the business and the people around it better than ever before.
Don't Wait For Customers To Find GoldBank.
Advertising has been part of GoldBank's DNA since the very beginning. In 2016, we were advertising a tiny lock-up market stall on Capital and Smooth Radio because we couldn't simply wait for customers to walk past us.
We've gone from using radio to persuade people to visit a tiny market stall to building a brand with national reach.
The principle hasn't really changed: make sure people know we're here.A Phenomenal First Year For GoldBank Competitions.
GoldBank Competitions has now completed its first phenomenal 12 months. It has created an entirely new community around GoldBank and enabled us to make valuable jewellery, watches, gold and silver accessible to thousands more people.
At the same time, GoldBank Jewellers has now served more than 50,000 customers since those first days in Victoria Centre Market.
CUSTOMERS SERVED
The Business Grew. So Did The Team.
We're particularly proud that the people who have helped us build GoldBank are still here helping us build what comes next.
The team now brings together experience in gold and jewellery buying, diamonds, luxury watches, watch repairs, retail, operations, photography, video and digital competitions.
Still Here. Still Building.
The people who helped us build GoldBank are still here helping us build what comes next.
The Values Go Back Further Than The Business.
The £1,500 That Helped Start It.
John's late grandad lent him the £1,500 cash float that helped GoldBank begin buying from customers.
Stan and Eve also helped shape values that remain important to GoldBank: work hard, keep your word, appreciate every customer and put things right when they go wrong.
The Name Above The Door Has Always Mattered.
Long before GoldBank, W. Easom & Son belonged to an earlier generation of family shopkeeping: know your customers, stand behind what you sell and understand that your reputation matters.
WATCH THE BFI ARCHIVE FILM