Shivam Dhingra: Why Casablanca Sells Hawkins and Vinod Without the Premium Markup
, by Shivam Dhingra, 9 min reading time
Shivam Dhingra, owner of Casablanca Homeware & Gifts in Rockdale, Sydney, explains why trusted cookware brands Hawkins and Vinod are priced like every-day kitchenware in his store, not premium names; and the years in sales that shaped that decision.
Walk into Casablanca Homeware & Gifts in Rockdale and you'll find Hawkin's pressure cookers and Vinod tri-ply cookware on the shelf, priced like every-day kitchenware rather than the premium, trusted names they actually are. That's not an accident, and it isn't really about cookware at all. It goes back to how Shivam Dhingra spent years selling things before he ever owned a shop.
Selling Only What People Actually Need
Before Casablanca, Shivam worked a string of customer-facing jobs; door to door, behind a café counter as a barista, then at Sixt, Optus and Nick Scali. Every one of them ran on the same incentive: sell as much as possible, as often as possible.
"In a sales job, you're always forced to upsell, always forced to close the sale regardless of what the person actually needs," Shivam says. "Sometimes I'd fall behind on my targets because I chose not to upsell someone on something they didn't need. But that built trust. Over time my numbers went back to the top, because I had the most returning customers, people who only came in to see me, wherever I was working."
One example has stuck with him. An older woman came in to upgrade her phone. "I don't know anything about phones, just get me something good and easy to use," she told him. The standard play, he says, would have been the latest iPhone on the highest-cost plan, plus a $480 accessories bundle, because she wouldn't have known any better about what a plan should cost.
"Instead, I figured out what she actually needed first," Shivam says. "I gave her an iPhone that wasn't the latest model, not the biggest storage, no accessories beyond a screen protector and a cover. Saved her about $100 a month. She was grateful."
A business client got the same treatment. He came in wanting five new phones and three new internet connections for his new business. "A typical rep would've given him five brand-new numbers and five brand-new phones," Shivam says. "Instead, I kept his old numbers and consolidated everything onto one device, with every call routed to that one number. It wasn't part of my job description; I just researched it because I knew it would save him money. Overall, it saved him about three thousand dollars."
Wanting Something That Was His
Shivam's instinct to work for himself didn't come out of nowhere. "Growing up, I always saw my older family members; uncles, cousins; running their own businesses," he says. "My cousin started his own company at nineteen. I always wanted something of my own too."
Working for himself comes with a trade-off he's made peace with. "Even though it feels like I work eight days a week, I'd still rather work for myself than for somebody else, because it gives me that feeling of freedom; deciding my own hours, and my output actually equalling the outcome, instead of getting paid the same no matter how much you put in. I have nothing against people who prefer that. I've just always been more driven to work for myself."
That drive is fairly literal. "Even if I stay up until three a.m. working on my website and I'm opening the store again at nine, I don't mind," he says. "I'm doing it for me."
A Shop That Needed Saving
Casablanca Homeware & Gifts wasn't a business Shivam built from an empty shop. He bought it from a previous owner who'd run it for almost twenty years and was ready to retire.
"He wanted to retire; he had some other issues in his life and couldn't keep running it," Shivam says. "My uncle is an importer here in Sydney, and he told me the business was up for sale. I looked into it and bought it, so the shop wouldn't have to close, and to have something to call mine."
The store he took over wasn't in great shape. "It was run down when I got it; not painted, disorganised, smelled of cigarette smoke because the previous owner used to smoke inside," he says. "It wasn't in any shape a business should be in. What I've turned it into now is a complete 180."
Hawkins is one of the brands Shivam added to the store himself, deliberately. "It's one of the very few brands I've personally introduced to the store, because of its history, its warranty, and the trust it's already built with consumers," he says. "It's one of the top brands in the world for steel cookware and pressure cookers."
It's not the only well-regarded name in the shop; Bohemia Crystal and pure marble chess sets sit alongside it; but everything he brings in has to pass the same test. "The last thing I want is a returning customer telling me, 'I bought this a while ago and it's already worn out,'" he says. "I do not want a single customer walking in with something they bought from me that isn't living up to its standard. So, I'm very skeptical about what I stock, and who I buy it from. Longevity matters."
Why the Price Doesn't Go Up Just Because the Name Is Trusted
This is where the reputation Hawkins and Vinod carry could easily justify a bigger price tag; and where Shivam says he deliberately doesn't take it.
"I don't want to just make money off one customer over a single purchase," he says. "I want the customer to feel like they've paid a fair price, and to know this is a store where they'll always be priced fairly, not ripped off. That's why I don't overprice my items; I price them as fairly as I can, so people want to come back and think of Casablanca first for anything else they need."
He's blunt about the comparison. "I've got items that you'll also find at Big W, Coles and Woolworths, sold there for a lot more money than I charge; and mine are better quality than theirs. That's not just me saying it. That's what customers have told me themselves."
What Customers Keep Telling Him
The Hawkins and Vinod pieces on Shivam's shelves back that up in practice, not just in his own pitch.
"I've sold tri-ply Vinod kadhais to customers all over Australia, and they absolutely love them," he says. "One customer even filmed herself cooking with hers and posted it to TikTok, telling her followers she'd recommend it to friends and family. What I sell them for is affordable compared to what other people charge for the same thing; especially once you know it's going to last a lifetime. She told me everything she'd bought before always gave out too early and never came with a warranty." It's a common complaint with cheaper steel cookware; thin bases that warp and stop sitting flat on the stove, hot spots that scorch food in the middle while the edges stay undercooked. Tri-ply construction, with a layer of aluminium sandwiched into the base, is built specifically to spread heat evenly and avoid exactly that.
Hawkins gets the same loyalty. "When people buy a Hawkins pressure cooker from me, they buy it without any fear something's going to go wrong," Shivam says. "It's a well-known brand that's been used for generations, and it lasts for generations. I've had customers tell me they've had the same Hawkins pressure cooker for over twenty years; all they've ever needed to do is replace the whistle or the rubber seal now and then, which I sell cheaply too. Once you buy a Hawkins pressure cooker, you never need to buy another one again."
What He Wants You to Take Away
Every part of this; the years spent not upselling people who trusted him, the run-down shop he bought so it wouldn't close, the brands he vets for longevity before he'll stock them; comes back to one thing.
"I want people walking away knowing that everything I choose to stock in this store can be trusted; that it's well researched, and thought through with the customer in mind, not my own profit," Shivam says. "That comes last."
Visit Casablanca Homeware & Gifts
Hawkins pressure cookers and Vinod cookware, along with the rest of Casablanca's range, are available in store and online.
Store: Shop 7, 466 Princes Highway, Rockdale NSW Website: casablancagifts.com.au Instagram: @casablanca_gifts Email: casablancagifts@outlook.com
LinkedIn: Shivam Dhingra | LinkedIn