WASHINGTON, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – Fabled US jeweler Tiffany & Co., with its exotic diamonds and a pale blue signature brand color known to make women swoon, says it is committing to Russia like never before and plans to open its own two-level store at the upscale GUM department store in Red Square.
“This is going to be a 4,500 square-foot (420 square meters) store, and it’s going to be very prominent,” Tiffany’s spokesman Mark Aaron told RIA Novosti. “Obviously we see a big opportunity in Russia so we are delighted to be opening in this new location.”
The luxury retailer’s brand has had a presence in Moscow for years. But not like this.
The new store, scheduled to open early next year, will be Tiffany’s first wholly-owned retail business in Russia, part of a global marketing strategy that builds on success in emerging markets by putting in brick-and-mortar sites once sales have reached a critical mass.
“We’re investing the money, we’re building the store. Certainly it’s a stepped-up commitment,” said Aaron.
“We’ve done great business in Russia and we think we have a lot more to do,” he added.
Previous sales have been handled through third-party distributors, some of which – like the Tverskaya Street location in Moscow – may have looked to the casual eye like the real thing.
This time around, promises Tiffany, the shopping experience will reach a whole new level, with “the latest design and warmth that really embodies the Tiffany values” and “an extended product line of the Tiffany brand” which has never been offered in Russia before, said Laurent Cathala, Tiffany’s vice president of emerging markets, in an interview from Dubai.
The new store will also have a staff of employees called “Tiffany Ambassadors”, a job description the firm says fits “because they are truly part of the Tiffany brand, and we were never able to deliver this customer experience in Russia before because we were not operating the store ourselves,” he added.
