Gucci, Prada and Tiffany’s bet big on property

From the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street the facade of Tiffany’s looks just as it did in 1961 when Audrey Hepburn, dressed in a long black dress and pearls, nibbled on a croissant outside it. Inside, however, things are rather different. After a four-year, $500m renovation, shoppers are greeted by a more modern experience.

Everything shines: the rocks, the metal and marble display cases, the ceilings. What, at first glance, look like arched windows are really 7m-high LED screens showing a diamond bird flitting over Central Park. Lifts at the rear take shoppers to ten floors: one for silver, one for gold, one for “masterpieces”. A three-storey extension, with views over Fifth Avenue, now sits atop the building. These levels are appointment-only. “We call it the diamond on the roof,” quipped Alexandre Arnault, son of Bernard, who owns LVMH, a French conglomerate that bought Tiffany’s in 2021.