AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM High-end jeweler Tiffany & Co. showed off its new store in the 2100 Kalakaua development yesterday. The store opens for business Nov. 1.

Tiffany forges ahead

The upscale jeweler will anchor
the pricey retailers at 2100 Kalakaua

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Tiffany & Co., as it gets close to opening its first stand-alone store in Hawaii, says it is not worried about the Hawaii economy.

Or the decline in Japanese tourists.

Or the reduced spending habits of the Japanese who do visit the islands.

"We've been here long enough to know how to do it," said Michael Christ, Tiffany's retail group vice president for the Central, Southwest, Northwest and Pacific regions.

Tiffany walked members of the media yesterday through the 11,200-square-foot, three-story store that will open Nov. 1 in the 2100 Kalakaua complex at the entrance to Waikiki.

The high-end jeweler has been in Hawaii for 10 years, starting with a store in the Ala Moana Center in 1992 and expanding to Whaler's Village on Maui, the Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1997 and the Sheraton Moana in 1998. The Oahu hotel stores are closing and their staff will move to the new location. The Ala Moana store will remain, officials said.

Christ said Tiffany knows the Hawaii market and is comfortable with the belief that the company is not "overbuilt," even with the addition of the new store.

"It's about permanence," Christ said, explaining that Tiffany has a long-term lease at 2100 Kalakaua and knows it can weather short-term economic challenges, even if they are as severe as the tourism crash that followed Sept. 11. Tiffany doesn't rely solely on Japanese visitors, he said. The company does "appeal to a broad public" and has merchandise for under $100 to appeal to a variety of tastes in jewelry and accessories.

AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM Edward J. Gerald, vice president-Hawaii of Tiffany & Co., said the store combined local input with classic Tiffany style in the design of its new store in Waikiki.

Christ said he is confident about the company's future in Hawaii but acknowledged that predicting the future is like receiving one of Tiffany's signature robin's egg blue gift-wrapped packages.

"You never know what's inside the blue box," he said.

Christ would not disclose what Tiffany is spending to set up the new store but said it is a "prudent" investment in a good cooperative relationship with Honu Group, developer of the new 2100 Kalakaua and before that, the nearby King Kalakaua Plaza.

Christ and Edward J. Gerard, Tiffany vice president-Hawaii market, made much of the local input that went into the design of the store.

Gerard said the style was inspired by the old Alexander & Baldwin Inc. building on Bishop Street in downtown Honolulu. There are images of palm trees in some concrete finishes but new materials too, such as stainless steel and "weather brass," which will change color over time in reaction to the climate.

Other aspects of the design reflect the architecture of the original Tiffany store on Fifth Avenue in New York, including two "Atlas clocks" that represent the mythological titan sentenced to bear the heavens upon his shoulders.

Christ said Tiffany is "proud to be the only retailer of American heritage" in the 2100 Kalakaua complex, part of which is where the old Canlis restaurant used to be.

It will anchor the 2100 Kalakaua development, which consists of 100,000 square feet of retail space. Tenants announced so far, aside from Tiffany, are high-fashion retailers Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Gucci, Tod's and Boucheron. There will be a total of nine retail tenants in the three three-story buildings and each signature tenant will have its individual design presence.

Most are expected to open for business along with Tiffany at the beginning of November, in time for the holiday shopping season.

As part of its grand opening festivities, Tiffany will present an exhibit on its third floor from Nov. 22 to Jan. 7.

"American Themes: Masterpieces from the Tiffany & Co. Archives" will feature pieces such as the American flag brooch designed for the nation's centennial in 1876.

No, it won't be possible to get breakfast at Tiffany's. No restaurant is planned. The company said, however, that it will hold private functions on its third-floor lanai.