As the NYPD and Secret Service build out security around Trump Tower, luxury retailers located on the president-elect’s midtown Manhattan block have seen a steep decline in foot traffic. “I will not tell you that Gucci and Tiffany’s are my central concerns in life,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month. (Gucci pays about $25 million in annual rent.) Still, it hasn’t taken long for the capitalists to work out a solution: According to Women’s Wear Daily, barricades around Trump Tower will now bear robin’s egg blue Tiffany & Co.-branded coverlets.
The barricades will usher shoppers directly to the Tiffany’s storefront. How convenient! “They are not NYPD barriers,” an NYPD spokesperson clarified (sort of?) in an email to Jezebel. “Anyone who would like to go into the store has access to the store.”
Unfortunately, WWD reports, similar accommodations have not yet been made for Armani or Gucci.
To draw further attention that it’s business as usual inside the store, bellhops are stationed along the pathway, each wearing a standard-issue Tiffany-blue scarf, as well as uniform knit hats, neck warmers and gloves. In Thursday’s below-freezing weather, many grasped disposable hand-warming sachets.
A NYPD checkpoint sits just beside the Tiffany track — where visitors to the Trump Tower receive the first of multiple evaluations before being granted access inside.
“Our flagship store windows, which feature sparkling scenes of New York City at the holidays, are now on display for all to see,” a Tiffany & Co. spokesperson said in a statement. “Our facade has also been illuminated as planned.” And not a moment too soon.