Until recently, Wuhan — the Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged — was hardly well-known around the world.

For the British jeweller Annoushka, however, this metropolis of 11m people, a third larger than New York, is important. Before the virus hit, the company’s two Wuhan concessions were the top performers of all its stores in mainland China, having opened in September last year.

Annoushka is expanding in mainland China in partnership with Jewelria, the multibrand retail platform of the Hong Kong jeweller Chow Tai Fook. The UK company chose Wuhan, the largest inland transport hub in China, because of its apparent growth rate. “It has a wealthy millennial workforce,” says John Ayton, Annoushka’s chairman and co-founder. “Our customers in China are notably younger — they tend to be in their late 20s and early 30s.”