Lishq, offering Indian jewelry with a “modern twist,” is in the same building as Shelly and Deepak Ajmani’s spice shop — in the spot where a different jewelry store closed last year after an armed robbery.
July 7, 2025
BERKELEYSIDE — The owners of Bombay Spice House have opened a jewelry and wedding store just a few doors down from the popular spice shop.
Lishq (a play on the Punjabi word “lishkara,” which means “to shine”) was opened by Shelly and Deepak Ajmani in March in the former location of Bombay Jewelry Company, which closed last year after a crew of armed robbers took over $500,000 worth of merchandise.
Its owner, Maulin Chokshi, who also served as the president of the University Avenue Association (UAA), found it hard to work after the event, Deepak and others in the local business community said.
Chokshi was a good friend of the Ajmanis, and the jewelry store meant a great deal to the couple.
“ My wedding ring came from the store,” said Shelly. “There’s so many memories there.”
So when her husband floated the idea of taking over the shop, Shelly jumped at the chance.
“We didn’t want anyone else coming into this space,” said Shelly. “It’s a community space.”
Deepak Ajmani took over Bombay Spice House in 1991, after running a movie theater called Bombay Cinema on Shattuck Avenue and Bombay Music House on University Avenue. He and Shelly married in 1998. The Ajmanis have two children who essentially grew up in the University Avenue neighborhood where the spice shop and Lishq are located.
Lishq carries Indian jewelry with a “modern twist,” according to Shelly.
She noted that the jewelry the store sells is not fine jewelry, given concerns of theft. Last year, Before officially launching Lishq, Shelly held a pop-up shop at the location in celebration of Diwali.
”And that was phenomenal,” she said. “We had people come in from Redding and all the way down to Fresno just to shop with us for Diwali.”
The response reminded Shelly of her childhood, when her family used to visit Berkeley from San Francisco for a day of shopping. The area, which many once referred to as “Little India,” used to draw people from all over the region.
“Everybody came to Berkeley,” she said. “We had so many Indian stores. We had clothing stores, appliances, we had three jewelry stores. We had just so much to do here.”
The Ajmanis founded Lishq as a way to recreate the area as a destination point. To that end, they decided to carry traditional Indian wedding supplies.
She even lined out the order of operations for wedding shopping on the block.
“ So you come to Berkeley,” she said. “For outfits you go to Sari Palace. You get sweets at Bombay Spice House. You come [to Lishq], you do all your baskets, you do all of the little things that you need for your wedding, and then you do your jewelry shopping for your outfit. And then you have coffee at Heyma.”
The Ajmanis are deeply involved in reviving the Berkeley International Marketplace, a designation given to the area in 2006, with funding from the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Banners from those days still hang from light posts in the area.
“ And now we want bring it back,” said Shelly.
Lishq, 1042 University Ave., Berkeley. Phone: 510-280-4475. Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Connect via Instagram.
