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Tiffany reopens flagship New York store under French management

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Agence France Presse

NEW YORK, United States - New Yorkers and tourists will once again stroll between the rings and diamonds of jeweler Tiffany &amp; Co. on Fifth Avenue, which officially reopened for business Wednesday after extensive renovations under new owners, French luxury giant LVMH.The iconic Manhattan jewelry store -- immortalized by the 1961 film &quot;Breakfast at Tiffany&#x27;s&quot; -- reopened its doors following the remodelling, which the luxury jeweler hopes will help fuel the brand&#x27;s momentum under its new ownership.It took &quot;a bit longer than what we had in mind,&quot; Tiffany CEO Anthony Ledru said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, two days before the store reopens to the public.But the result &quot;goes well beyond our wildest dreams,&quot; he said.The renovation of the Manhattan landmark began under previous management in 2019, and continued after Tiffany&#x27;s takeover by LVMH.The goal of the makeover, Ledru told AFP by email ahead of the reopening, is to offer &quot;a unique client experience,&quot; with a blend of &quot;art, craftsmanship, heritage and lifestyle.&quot;Tiffany is looking to stay true to its origins while remaining culturally &quot;relevant,&quot; and the company wants to make the brand &quot;approachable to all generations,&quot; he said.<div>Beyonce and Nike</div>Tiffany was founded in New York in 1837, and has become best known for its diamonds, silver jewelry and engagement rings sold in the brand&#x27;s iconic robin&#x27;s egg blue boxes.The company, which employs 14,000 people and operates some 300 retail outlets worldwide, was acquired by LVMH in early 2021 for just under $16 billion.At LVMH&#x27;s annual earnings presentation in January, CEO Bernard Arnault noted Tiffany was on track to &quot;exceed $1 billion in current operating income&quot; this year.&quot;We were barely halfway there when we acquired this business,&quot; he said.With help from Arnault&#x27;s son, Alexandre, Ledru has embarked on a refresh of the brand, calling on America&#x27;s hottest show business couple Jay-Z and Beyonce to promote its products, and launching a campaign around the provocative slogan, &quot;Not your mother&#x27;s Tiffany.&quot;The brand has also forged a partnership with US footwear giant Nike to go along with the revamp.&quot;Tiffany was a sleeping beauty,&quot; says Erwan Rambourg, a specialist in the luxury sector at HSBC.The company long relied on a &quot;very strong reputation,&quot; but was also &quot;very conservative in its choices, very slow and quite obsessed with the short term&quot; to satisfy shareholders, he told AFP.The new management, spurred on by &quot;the spirit of conquest specific to Bernard Arnault,&quot; repositioned the image of the brand by putting less emphasis on products related to marriage and silver jewelry and by raising some prices, he said.&quot;When it was managed by American executives, there was a huge emphasis in communication on entry price, which is not a good approach&quot; to take in luxury, according to Luca Solca of Bernstein, saying it is more prudent for such brands to focus on high-end products.The current management&#x27;s marketing and communication strategy are &quot;more modern,&quot; which is necessary &quot;to recruit younger consumers,&quot; he said.<div>Recognizable jewelry</div>The jeweler has also launched a range of new products such as the &quot;T by Tiffany&quot; ring and, more recently, its &quot;Lock&quot; line of bracelets.&quot;It is quite difficult to put a big logo on a ring, a bracelet or a pendant, but the shape of some so-called iconic products can, at 20 meters in a restaurant or a bar, identify that it is a Tiffany, Cartier or Van Cleef jewel,&quot; Rambourg said.The group has also developed a new approach for its stores, opting for a &quot;more feminine, warm and welcoming&quot; concept, he added.The renovation of the New York store began under previous management in 2019, and continued after Tiffany&#x27;s takeover by LVMH.It represents the largest investment ever made in the luxury world for an operation of this nature, according to a person close to Arnault.In addition to the refresh of the sales counters, the Manhattan store&#x27;s 10 floors will include several exhibition spaces, a cafe run by French chef Daniel Boulud and a VIP area.Before the renovation -- during which customers could visit a temporary location next door -- the store accounted for around 10 percent of Tiffany&#x27;s sales.Ledru would not commit to a specific sales target post-renovation, but said the group has &quot;set the bar high for business expectations,&quot; and that it anticipates &quot;millions of visitors from all over the world&quot; would set foot in the new Tiffany store each year.

New Yorkers and tourists will once again stroll between the rings and diamonds of jeweler Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue, which officially reopened for business Wednesday after extensive renovations under new owners, French luxury giant LVMH.