After months of rumors, it’s official:
Tiffany and Company, the 170-year-old icon of what was once known as the carriage trade, is ready to sprinkle some of its glitter on Broad Street.
The retailer announced today that it has leased a portion of the vacant Garmany building, next door to Garmany’s present business location. Tiffany said it will open a 6,000-square-foot emporium in November.
Red Bank, the company says in a press release, is “a jewel among Jersey shore communities.”
“With its vibrant arts community, fine restaurants and luxury shopping, Red Bank is an increasingly popular destination and a natural setting for a TIFFANY & CO. store,” said Beth O. Canavan, executive vice president of Tiffany & Co. “We’ve secured an ideal location, and we think the many residents and visitors who enjoy shopping on this charming street in the center of town will appreciate Tiffany’s exceptional quality, craftsmanship and superior service.”
The addition of Tiffany to the downtown retail mix, however, is also likely to bolster the argument that district has moved too sharply upscale in terms of prices and merchandise.
That’s not by design, however, according to Tricia Rumola, executive director of Red Bank RiverCenter, which oversees joint marketing and streetscape matters for downtown retailers. The non-profit has “no control” over which retailers landlords put in their storefronts, she says.
“Whether it be Ten Thousand Villages or Willy’s Deli or Tiffany, anyone who wants to invest in this town, we want to welcome,” Rumola says.
Moreover, says Rumola, Tiffany has a worldwide reputation for customer service that makes the chain “almost like a mom-and-pop store.”
Some of the downtown stores widely perceived as high-end are Garmany itself, CoCo Pari and Chic Optique. RiverCenter officials and others note, however, the greater prevalence of low-to-mid-priced goods at stores such as Hobbymasters, Jack’s Music Shoppe and Red Bank Surplus.
The size of the space to be rented appears to account for two of the three storefronts that Garmany was recently in the process of creating by subdivision. redbankgreen has a call in to store owner Larry Garmany seeking clarification but we haven’t yet heard back from him.
Tiffany’s selection of Red Bank as a marketplace puts the borough in some fairly select company. Of its 150 stores worldwide, only 15 are in the northeastern United States, including the flagship location on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and stores in Boston, Philadelphia and East Hampton, New York. Tiffany’s other New Jersey shops are in The Mall at Short Hills, Hackensack and Atlantic City.
The new store will be housed in a building that functioned as a post office from from 1931 to 1965.
