Tiffany & Co.’s Fifth Ave. Landmark Store: An Insider-y Floor-by-floor Guide
NEW YORK — Tiffany & Co.’s historic Fifth Avenue flagship finally reopens on April 28 following a four-year gut renovation. And there are surprises to ensure that the store leaves a strong impression on the millions of visitors expected to step through Tiffany’s famous revolving doors each year.
The 10-story, 110,000-square-foot emporium has been rechristened by Tiffany as “The Landmark” — owing to the mega-store’s significance in the jeweler’s 186-year history. It is thought to be the largest jewelry store in the world as well as the largest single-brand luxury boutique.
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It carries the full breadth of Tiffany’s product offering, is filled with high-value contemporary art, a Daniel Boulud-led café and an experiential exhibit that takes shoppers inside the world of Audrey Hepburn and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
It is the most expensive single-brand store ever built by Tiffany’s holding company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which says something — given the multiple millions that the company spent on Christian Dior’s Paris flagship and museum on the famous Avenue Montaigne.
Report by Bloomberg estimate that the renovation cost a minimum of $250 million, and it entails everything from specially designed secure cases to display high-value jewelry to custom area rugs that will be used at key Tiffany stores around the globe going forward. The renovation was devised by interior architect Peter Marino, along with a three-story glass roof addition by OMA that Tiffany is calling its “diamond on the roof.”
Here, WWD exclusively breaks down Tiffany’s Landmark floor by floor:
Floor 1
Enter into “The World of Tiffany,” or Landmark’s first floor that puts visitors in the middle of a New York City landscape. It includes top-selling products across the jeweler’s most popular collections and was designed to reflect the same caseline layout as seen in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
In lieu of windows, Tiffany commissioned CGI footage of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that is broadcast floor-to-ceiling on screens that include more than 33 million pixels combined. In line with the jeweler’s sustainability goals, the projections are only run during operating hours.
Floral arrangements that are changed three times weekly include flowers like the Tiffany Rose, along with apple blossoms and wisteria — some sourced from as far away as Egypt and Japan.
On either side of the newly configured elevator banks — which brings the store’s fleet of lifts up to eight — are special exhibition vitrines that will display both the Tiffany Diamond and the Medusa Pendant upon the store’s opening on April 28.
Floor 2
Call it command central. Landmark’s second floor is its internal headquarters — home to its staffing and security operations.
Landmark’s staff of more than 150 sales associates will get their own restaurant. A café open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. will service Landmark personnel with what a representative deemed as “healthy” meals that will cost around $10 and can be ordered in advance on a specially developed app.
Floor 3
It’s the floor of love: Landmark’s third story is dedicated to Love & Engagement. And it’s entirely different than the store’s previous, wood-paneled iteration.
Undulating gold and copper-tone caselines — specially developed and made in Italy — now house Tiffany’s famous engagement rings. The space was envisioned as a warm, inviting corridor with four breakout rooms that couples can use for a more intimate sales experience. The “private salons” are each named for a floral motif and feature mirroring along the walls and ceiling for optimal cell phone documentation of the big moment.
While it’s a big shift from the traditional environment Tiffany shoppers know, a representative said the jeweler is still open to arranging proposals à la “Sweet Home Alabama” and can help plan a full takeover of the space with enough notice.
Floor 4
Take the spiral staircase that begins on three — marked by a 12-foot tall Daniel Arsham bronze sculpture — up to Tiffany’s gold collections level.
Decor on the fourth floor pays homage to the material most represented in its cases — with gold-tone textured metal wall placards and a matching celestial light fixture.
Along the 57th Street windows are three environmental break-out boutiques — a room for watches, another for Paloma Picasso and a third for Elsa Peretti.
Marino designed Peretti’s New York City apartment in the ’70s and used that project as reference for her individual Landmark space, which incorporates natural materials like cork caselines and sisal rugs.
Floor 5
It’s the floor most Tiffany fans will run for. Floor five is home to what Tiffany is calling “jewelry concepts” and will house its famous range of sterling silver designs.
Onsite engraving — which used to be handled at a customer service center — will also be available on this level, along with personalized stamped blue boxes. For those services, guest sit on iridescent, Memphis, Tennessee-inspired Tiffany Blue chairs.
Saunter down the hall and take in what Tiffany is calling “The Audrey Experience,” which pays homage to the iconic Truman Capote film that cemented the jeweler’s place in history. Givenchy made a special replica of Hepburn’s black gown from the film that will be displayed in a frosted vitrine that will go clear every few minutes to keep visitors on their toes.
Floor 6
Looking to eat “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”? Well, it’s possible on the sixth floor at the renovated Blue Box Café.
Reservations can be made for breakfast, tea-time or to enjoy an all-day menu by chef Daniel Boulud that includes scrambled eggs with caviar, a Tiffany burger or an assortment of scones, tea sandwiches and petit fours. The café is open during operating store hours — from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The sixth level is also dedicated to the full breadth of Tiffany homewares, where one can pick up a sterling silver compass or clothespin, a cashmere pillow or a mahjong set.
Floor 7
It’s the highest-selling floor of Landmark and it’s also home to Tiffany’s most expensive pieces. This space is dedicated to high jewelry sales — like designs from Tiffany’s Schlumberger and Blue Book collections — and is fully open to the public. “Dreamers are welcome,” said chief gemologist Victoria Reynolds about the space’s accessibility.
Depending on the weather, views out of the window at this level could stretch all the way to 74th Street and Central Park West.
Floors 8 and 9
It’s the start of Tiffany’s “Diamond on the Roof,” or its three-story addition designed by OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu.
The glass-paneled, glittering cube is headquarters for Landmark’s VIP event and clientele activities. Floors eight and nine are combined to make a two-story event and special exhibition space that will kick off with museum-level retrospectives sometime next year.
Those who attend can also utilize the space’s L-shaped terrace with seasonal landscaping.
Floor 10
It’s Tiffany’s top clients who are treated to Landmark’s best views. The 10th floor has four VIP selling salons, along with a private dining room that can host up to 60 people.
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