NEW YORK — Construction staff are shuffling out and in of scaffolding on 57^th Street in Tiffany Blue-colored crewneck tees. A 12-foot Daniel Arsham bronze, nihilistic Venus de Milo-type sculpture looms in a cloak of bubble wrap and contractors cantilevered inside a forklift use toothbrushes to scrape away at residue caught behind sculpted balustrades.

Amid the chaos — on the tenth floor of what Tiffany is now calling its “Landmark” store — chief executive officer Anthony Ledru and executive vp Alexandre Arnault are seated in a VIP library room, with a cake stand of pastel macarons and fresh fruit cups in front of them while a butler pops in from behind a hidden hatch door. It’s this sort of customer support experience they hope to once more offer after two years of intense renovations to remodel one among Manhattan’s top tourist destinations. There are only just a few weeks of round the clock construction left to go before the shop opens to the general public on April 28.

The Landmark, while not a registered landmark with the town’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, is — as Arnault confirmed — the costliest single-brand real estate investment ever made by Tiffany’s holding company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

It is important in some ways: At 110,000 square feet, Landmark is one among the biggest single-brand luxury stores on this planet across accessories, apparel and jewellery. It’s the identical store that one among America’s most famous movies took its name from, and it’s emblematic of essentially the most storied jewelry brand in U.S. history.

Prior to its renovation — which broke ground in 2019 — Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store was Recent York City’s fifth-largest tourist attraction, Ledru claimed. He also said that at one point it was the world’s top-grossing single-brand luxury store — and it had not been significantly renovated since 1980.

“It’s not only the biggest jewelry store. It’s a cultural destination, and that’s what Tiffany is all about. It’s greater than a jewellery brand, at the very least within the American psyche,” Ledru said.

In reopening the doors to Tiffany’s most famous location, Ledru and Arnault, together with interior architect Peter Marino, not only reveal a serious facelift for an American tradition but in addition they lift the curtain on what many expect to be the primary full view of LVMH’s vision for the brand because it acquired Tiffany for $15.8 billion in 2021. It was the biggest deal ever made in the posh industry’s history and represented a serious bet by LVMH to show Tiffany into a worldwide brand on par with Cartier and its LVMH sister Bulgari.

The result’s “a shiny recent world,” as Marino described it. Where the shop’s previous iteration had dark wood paneling and polished chrome that spoke to an Old Recent York, it’s since been replaced by gold and glitz more representative perhaps of today’s world.

But for Ledru and Arnault, it was the one solution to go. “We’ve got an obligation to surprise… that’s the mission of a living luxury house,” Ledru said of the transformation.

A representative for Tiffany declined to disclose how much money LVMH spent on the shop, but it surely’s considered well into the nine-figure range. Spread that across what number of visitors will go through Landmark’s doors annually — anticipated at greater than 2 million annually — the amortized reality doesn’t seem as extravagant.

“These are our movie theaters,” Ledru said of the brand new Tiffany store experience and the importance of LVMH’s investment.

Contained in the Design

When LVMH arrived at Tiffany in 2021, Landmark had already been empty for nearly two years, although the jeweler had already begun plotting a makeover of the flagship under former chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff.

Marino took it as a “tabula rasa,” he said. “When [Bernard Arnault] bought it, the shop demolition had already taken place by the old management — we inherited a shell, it was a really clean slate and there was nothing left to preserve, not one inch. Mr. Arnault was like, ‘Do what you do best, Peter, make it feel like Tiffany.’”

To him, that was a matrix of 10 floors that had unifying elements but could surprise at every turn.

“It’s a shiny recent world. It’s not a matter of what I wanted to alter essentially the most — I got to alter every part,” Marino said.

The architect was inspired by the frivolity of the jewellery world and the way it was portrayed in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

“I desired to remove the intimidating factor and make the experience of shopping for jewelry more cheerful and fun — most jewellery stores are still so somber,” Marino said.

Ledru and Alexandre Arnault desired to bring a certain “warmth” and “friendliness” to the space. “We imagine in generosity, we imagine in an inclusive approach. We don’t need to jump on the client after they have to feel comfortable. That’s very Tiffany and really American,” Ledru said of their vision.

In entering the primary floor, which has been labeled “The World of Tiffany,” visitors will experience floor-to-ceiling archways full of CGI footage of Manhattan in lieu of windows; mega diamonds on display, and an assortment of bijou from the brand’s hottest collections. This floor, which Marino called, “a hoot,” sets the tone for the opulence seen at every level thereafter.

In a stealth move akin to a casino, the CGI footage doesn’t change to reflect the time of day outside, basking the shop in a everlasting afternoon light — a vacuum of time, should you will, that incentivizes hours of worry-free shopping

The world rugs that Marino designed for the shop, together with certain wall treatments, lighting concepts and custom caseline designs — the latter of that are all produced in Italy, some with pearlescent tile inlay or cork detailing — will carry over to future Tiffany flagship openings and renovations worldwide, becoming recent retail signatures for the brand.

“The sunshine wood and the pinkish baselines and the gold in every single place, it gives it rather more of a homey, warm feeling than we could have had prior to now,” Arnault said of the space. As previously reported by WWD, similar tonal design motifs already had test runs at recently renovated Tiffany boutiques, like one in Boston.

At Landmark, a spiral staircase with Elsa Peretti-inspired balustrades carries shoppers from floors three through eight, with mirrored partitions along the best way for selfies and private documentation.

“For my part, [Marino] managed to create and get some consistency from one floor to a different and yet the floors are different. The staircase plays a giant role — it’s the backbone of the shop. You may go from floor to floor and savor the difference,” Ledru said of the shop flow.

Marino’s signature luxe quirks appear throughout — just like the hand-painted Blue Box Café floor that’s each childlike and complicated and the leather material covering the central staircase’s hand rails that will probably be wiped down consistently with a special cleansing agent.

Shoppers moving up from the bottom floor must take an elevator and skip floor two, where Landmark’s staffing operations are based. At face value that flow is a curious selection, but Ledru and Arnault said that the ceiling heights there are the shop’s lowest and it made sense to focus their design efforts elsewhere.

Once arriving at three — the Landmark’s love and engagement floor — Marino’s vision for the Recent York-based jeweler becomes even clearer. It’s a central corridor of caselines in rose gold and copper tones with a smidge of what the designer called “really grungy fun.”

“I took inspiration from Warhol and glued aluminum foil to the ceiling — I felt prefer it was really fun and really Audrey [Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’] to not have a dime and make something look good,” Marino said.

It’s on this floor that Tiffany’s departure from its old fashioned past appears most evident. Whereas the previous engagement ring floor spelled out an American tradition, its new edition looks to jot down a fresh narrative — one that might equally excite or rattle a few of Tiffany’s more tried-and-true shoppers.

Since LVMH’s acquisition of Tiffany, the jeweler’s various noise-making collaborations, ad campaigns and collections have inspired debate amongst fans of all ages. It’s worked, in keeping with recent LVMH earnings reports that time to strong sales growth on the jeweler.

When asked about this, Arnault smiled — it appears to be a part of his plan (he leads the brand’s product design and communications). “We’re respectful of respectful comments — wherever they arrive from — and hearken to everyone’s opinions. That being said, we even have to provide a point-of-view. We’ve got a robust view of who we’re and that’s what is absolutely expressed on this store. We hearken to the feedback, whether it’s constructive or negative. But we try to remain near who we’re while really going forward,” he said.

Ledru added that, “The traditionalists are those who’ve a robust opinion on Tiffany and the way do you protect that relationship? And yet manage to surprise them? They’re essentially the most difficult ones because they’ve expectations — it’s not at all times easy.”

Yet for all their careful planning, Ledru admitted that some elements in the shop are subject to trial-and-error. For instance, it’s yet to be seen how Marino’s oatmeal-colored rug designs will fare on a slushy Recent York City winter’s day. And the shop’s art collection — which Arnault and Marino curated together and purchased on behalf of the Tiffany brand — might have been more diverse, with only 4 women in a group of 28 total artists, and with few ethnic groups represented.

The gathering, which Arnault said is subject to alter and evolution, includes heavy-hitting art market names including Julian Schnabel, Rashid Johnson and Jean-Michel Basquiat with a watch toward Tiffany Blue color schemes. They’re seamlessly incorporated into key nooks and crannies throughout the shop.

Arnault believes it’s the “largest private collection for any luxury store on this planet of such significant artworks.”

Engaging a Recent Generation Through Details

One thing that Ledru and Arnault are serious about isn’t interested by one other Landmark renovation for a while. And with that in mind, most of the elements in Landmark were designed to capture a recent generation of Tiffany shoppers — those who require a robust motive to look away from their phone screens.

Interactive elements — the type higher experienced in person than in a social media post — are scattered throughout the shop, but not in a way that might alienate traditional clientele.

That is best seen in what Tiffany calls “The Audrey Experience,” or an alcove on Landmark’s fifth floor that provides shoppers an immersive experience into “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” including a reproduction of Hepburn’s famous Givenchy black dress that’s revealed from inside a frosted glass vitrine every couple of minutes.

It’s quite a step up from the shop’s previous incarnation, where Hepburn was represented by a poster that loomed within the corner of the shop’s engagement ring floor.

“Audrey Hepburn — she’s type of a protective halo over the brand that folks will relate to throughout the generations,” Arnault said of the icon’s place in Tiffany’s overall success.

Ledru took a more cautious approach, and spoke about Hepburn within the scheme of Landmark’s more general goals: “Let’s be very clear: we want to inform the story to the younger generation. Because not everyone knows… most brands in the jewellery space are about heritage. And there’s one other half that’s more about modernity. And Tiffany, after we were at the highest, we found that balance.”

Mirrors cover the partitions and ceilings of personal shopping rooms within the love and engagement department — allowing couples to simply document the special moment on their cellphones. Ledru, Arnault and Marino seem to contemplate that a component of modern-day customer support.

“There’s numerous nods to what Tiffany is now and can develop into over the subsequent a long time,” Arnault said of Landmark. “Imagine reading an article saying, ‘Tiffany builds the shop prefer it was 10 years ago.’ Who involves see that?”

Tiffany also looks to emphasise its history of working with global artists. There are breakout rooms for Elsa Peretti jewelry on the fourth floor, with postmodern design elements, in addition to a separate Peretti home design boutique inside the larger housewares floor on six.

Paloma Picasso gets her due credit with a stand-alone salon that appears to ’80s Spanish glamour, also situated on the fourth floor.

Irreverent flourishes across the shop make shoppers feel further immersed on this planet of Tiffany.

At the brand new iteration of Tiffany’s Blue Box Café, helmed by Daniel Boulud, guests can enjoy scrambled eggs and caviar or high tea with tons of of blue boxes dangling overhead.

The seventh floor’s high jewelry salon includes robotic doors that — with the press of a button — concurrently swing open for a dramatic reveal of pieces specially curated for a visiting client.

And the “Diamond on the Roof” three-story addition devised by OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu will function Landmark’s center for brand history activations. Starting in 2024 the shop’s combined eighth and ninth floors, which the brand is asking its “Cultural Pavilion,” will probably be utilized as a special exhibition space. Tiffany has retained the services of curators and designers to arrange museum-level shows that explore its archives, with a programming schedule set to be revealed at a later date.

“It takes several hours to go to the shop. There are lots more immersive initiatives, views, private areas, the terrace, exhibits. Probably early next 12 months, we’ll have some artistic moments, musical moments,” Ledru said.

The Business Plan

Landmark arrives at a pivotal time — when jewelry, particularly high jewelry, is experiencing a gold rush and the best relevance in nearly two centuries.

Ledru is betting that the shop will probably be the beginning of much more industrial success for Tiffany — following a fiscal 12 months through which the corporate’s high jewelry sales doubled.

“The brand has invested in retail [very minimally] for a lot of reasons prior to now decade. That is the fireworks. That is the beginning. We’ve got a really, very, very impressive plan of relocations, renovations and expansions in the subsequent 36 months,” he said.

Tiffany opened a key flagship in The Dubai Mall earlier this month. Recent flagship openings slotted for 2023 include Monaco, Berlin, Palo Alto and Omotesandō in Tokyo. Tiffany can also be renovating its Ginza, Tokyo, flagship location to reflect its recent design standards.

The Blue Box Café at Landmark is a one-off location, however the jeweler is planning a recent café concept called Tiffany’s that may roll out in Dubai and Taipei, Taiwan, later this 12 months.

These openings will look to capitalize on what Arnault described as a “halo-effect” of consumer excitement that may reverberate globally following Landmark’s opening. “In our view, it’ll positively impact the remainder of the shop network,” he said.

Tiffany confirmed that it owns the Landmark constructing, but declined to disclose sales projections for the shop’s first 12 months. “A billion,” Arnault joked before demurring to supply an actual figure.

“It can take the time it takes, but I feel it’s going to be quite quickly since it’s a giant departure from what we had before. It’s unique in the town. Nobody has something like we’ve got in our hands. We’ve got the responsibility and the duty to make it work, but I don’t imagine pressure is the correct solution to talk about it,” Ledru said.

“It can be the biggest store by far for Tiffany and if we do a very good job, perhaps for any luxury brand on this planet. Tiffany had the record for the biggest sales for a single brand store,” he added.

Arnault said that “it’s the fantastic thing about LVMH” that Tiffany was capable of renovate Landmark at a level that, “the brand wouldn’t give you the option to do as a stand-alone company.”

“We’re capable of make these daring decisions and decades-long investments that don’t must repay in two years. We’re grateful for that and I’m also speaking as a shareholder. The group believes in 50-year-long investments, LVMH allows us to try this of course,” Arnault said.

However the energetic Ledru, as he has expressed in previous interviews, is barely just getting began. “There’s some very, excellent learnings from this Landmark,” he said. “And we’re going to export it.”