Tiffany & Co. president reveals sparkly new plans for Seoul and its brand

Life & Style

Published: 19 Sep. 2023, 18:29

Tiffany & Co. president reveals sparkly new plans for Seoul and its brand

Tiffany & Co.'s new flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo, opened on Sept. 13. [TIFFANY & CO.]

TOKYO — Global luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.’s series of innovative moves this year is catching the eyes of global luxury industry insiders and fashion leaders as it opens new stores in major cities for the first time since being acquired by luxury goods giant LVHM for $15.8 billion in January 2021.

In April, Tiffany reopened its flashy flagship store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 57th Street in New York, now known as “The Landmark,” after undergoing a nearly four-year renovation. In July, it reopened another renovated flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo. Last week, it opened a brand new store in Tokyo’s Omotesando. The brand’s president and CEO Anthony Ledru says Seoul will have its own brand new flagship store in 2025.

Tiffany & Co.'s new flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo, opened on Sept. 13. [TIFFANY & CO.]

According to Ledru, these innovative steps have been made to offer a totally new store experience for its customers and to truly reflect what Tiffany stands for.

Ledru became the president and CEO of Tiffany & Co. in January 2021. His career in the luxury industry began in 1999 when he worked for Cartier, until 2011. In 2015, he joined Louis Vuitton where he served as president and CEO of Louis Vuitton Americas.

“Tiffany is so much more than a jewelry brand — it’s a cultural phenomenon,” Ledru said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, at its new Omotesando store on Sept. 12.

According to Ledru, Tiffany stores across the globe aim to be “cultural hubs with architecture, very specific art, where clients can have an immersive experience.”

Tiffany’s two-story Omotesando store immediately catches the eye as it exudes the same New York’s “The Landmark” concept. On the first floor, it was displaying its latest capsule collection inspired by K-pop girl group Blackpink member Rose, the brand’s house ambassador, as well as Elsa Peretti collections, which pay respect to the legendary designer who joined Tiffany in 1974. There are also unique artworks exhibited in different corners of the store. The second floor showcases the iconic selection of Tiffany High Jewelry creations that honor French jewelry designer Jean Schlumberger, who joined Tiffany in 1956. His iconic Bird on a Rock brooch remains one of the brand’s most exceptional creations.

The following are edited excerpts from the interview with Ledru.

Anthony Ledru, president and chief executive officer at Tiffany & Co. [TIFFANY & CO.]

Q. This year has been a big year for Tiffany. It reopened The Landmark in New York, revamped its Ginza store and opened a new store in Omotesando. Have you noticed any tangible changes?

A. Since the opening of The Landmark, sales have doubled and the visitors are staying longer. We also found out that about 73 percent of the visitors go upstairs by using the elevator instead of using the staircase, which is very rare. We had one important visitor from Korea yesterday, and she was supposed to spend 45 minutes but ended up spending four hours. To be fair, she had lunch at the Blue Box Café [a dining space inside The Landmark]. People used to spend 30 to 45 minutes, and now we are talking hours. They come back. It’s very engaging and they spend much more time.

Other luxury brands seem to also put a lot of effort into renovating and refurbishing their stores. Is this a global trend in the industry?

Still, the number one place to experience the brand is with flagship stores. Having exceptional flagships around the world allows you to connect emotionally with the clients. It’s super exciting to prepare a trip. It’s a lot more exciting to experience the trip and actually do the journey. Online is a phenomenon, and it gives you the reach. But online without the brick and mortar is not even half of the brand. If I had to make a choice, I would still stick to brick and mortar. Brick and mortar is the highest level of emotion. Human relationships cannot be virtual. We’ve seen it with Covid. As soon as Covid ended, what happened? There was an explosion in restaurants, outdoors and in shopping.

Tiffany & Co.'s newly renovated flagship store in New York, now known as "The Landmark," reopened on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 57th Street in New York in April. [TIFFANY & CO.]

Tiffany currently has 25 flagship stores in major cities across the globe. Do you plan to renovate and expand all of them?

More than opening new ones or renovating existing ones, we will be relocating in most of the cities. We have a plan to renovate the London Bone Street store and actually expand it. We will open a new flagship store in Paris. We will have within the next 24 months a new flagship in Seoul’s Cheongdam-dong. The deal is done. It’s locked and will open in 2025. It will be double the size of the Omotesando store, closer to The Landmark in New York in terms of size. I think we have about five to seven projects a year planned in Korea. So it’s going to be everywhere in the world, with a clear acceleration in markets where we had underinvested.

From left: Ayaka Miyoshi, Anthony Ledru, CEO of Tiffany & Co., Anya Taylor-Joy and Shintaro Kitsuda, president of Tiffany & Co. Japan, cut the ribbon to celebrate the opening of Tiffany & Co.'s new store in Omotesando on Sept. 12 in Tokyo. [TIFFANY & CO.]

What will be the key innovation strategy for Tiffany?

We are balancing modernity and heritage. When most traditional brands are on the heritage side and most of the newcomers on the modern side, we believe we are a real mix of both, and we are all about bringing back or accelerating on the magic of the brand. Look at Jean Schlumberger's Bird on a Rock and the Love campaign we did with Beyoncé. It was perhaps the campaign closest to Tiffany’s spirit. We want to promote moving forward. It’s the message, and then it’s the incarnation of the brand, working with celebrities, where you have that modernity. I think when you look at our VIC [very important clients], not many brands would make that bold statement.

We’ll continue to have more collaborations that are authentic and relevant, perhaps more around jewelry. There are more surprises coming about the jewelry.

Korean actor Han Hyo-joo attends the opening event of Tiffany & Co.'s new store in Omotesando on Sept. 12 in Tokyo. [TIFFANY & CO.]

Jake and Sung Hoon of K-pop boy band Enhypen attend the opening event of Tiffany & Co.'s new store in Omotesando in Tokyo on Sept. 12. [TIFFANY & CO.]

Many people’s first Tiffany piece is actually silver, but you seem to focus more on high-end jewelry. How do you plan balance between high-end and silver products?

It’s a bit like online and brick and mortars. We don’t see them as enemies. I do agree with you about silver, and we have some of these historical pieces of silver creations here and at The Landmark. These were more expensive than some of the high-end jewelry we were selling at the time because of the work behind it. Silver is and was super high-end and super noble. So for us, it’s not synonymous with a downgrading of the brand or the history. We believe in silver. We believe perhaps in a more elevated silver in the future. We also have clients wearing high-end jewelry that also wear silver during the day, and they even mix and match their high-end with silver. So there’s a form of minimalism and generosity at Tiffany that we very much need and want to protect.

BY YOO JI-YOEN [kjdculture@joongang.co.kr]