YOU DESERVE IT
The Vault, a space devoted to watches and jewelry, opens in New York this
month. Go into one of the private rooms, try these on, and see what happens.ASSAELROBERT PROCOP PIAGETBOUCHERONGRAFFREPOSSIMARTIN KATZDENA KEMP PIRANESIFRANCK
MULLER“I remember you—the
lady with the jewelry.”A refrain often heard by KITTIE WEST,
philanthropist and Saks jewelry clientCHOPARDHERMESALL JEWELRY AT THE VAULT AT SAKS FIFTH AVENUE, 212-753-4000service.” She also emphasizes the attention
paid to international visitors. In addition to
the first Repossi and Boucheron shops in the
U.S, and an impressive assortment of “exclu-
sive one-of-a-kind pieces,” there will be a
multilingual concierge service.
Department stores have, for years now,
been players in the fine jewelry game. Saks,
in fact, recently renovated the second floor of
the Fifth Avenue store to create a dedicated
jewelry space, an 8,465-square-foot area. It’s
an unusual move to add more—doubling the
jewelry selling space in one store within two
years—but it’s a direction Saks firmly believes
in. “We started to really notice a change when
I first joined as president in 2015,” Metrick says.
“We were underdeveloped in jewelry—not so
much against our peers here but against the
international scene, places like Harrods. At
the same time, something was happening in
the luxury market. Prices for handbags went
up. People began to consider that you could
buy a gold cuff for $4,000; it could be an acces-
sory. Fine jewelry entered a space between
fashion and investment. We made the deci-
sion to build the second floor and the Vault
because our jewelry offering was undersized.”
The first phase of Operation Saks Jewelry
proved a win. “Our second-floor jewelry space
is a top-performing area of the flagship ren-
ovation,” he says. “We lit it right; we treat it
right. It lets the customer experience the jew-
elry and not just transact with it.”
The Vault, Metrick says, takes its name seri-
ously. It was carved out of existing spaces: part
of a beauty salon below the main floor and
some recaptured back-of-house space. “There
are no windows. It’s a complete jewelry envi-
ronment, a destination, with all the finish-
ings, with private rooms for trying things,
an international lounge and services, and an
assortment that was just never at Saks before.
What’s in the Vault is 2,000 years of heritage.
“We have been here since 1924, but we
have not been servicing the jewelry client in
the right way,” he admits. “Now we are the
answer. And this Vault is a portable concept
for other flagship markets. This is a category
that Saks doesn’t yet own—but no one really
owns it. And we should.”
BRIGHT THINGS