Graff Debuts First Stand-alone Retailer in Southern California

For the primary time in 10 years, Graff has opened a brand new retailer in the USA for its assortment of high-end jewellery designed in London since its founding in 1960.

The brand new location, unveiled on Monday, is at South Coast Plaza, the luxury-oriented procuring heart 50 miles south of Los Angeles in Costa Mesa, Calif.

“We’ve been ready for the proper location to grow to be out there,” defined Marc Hruschka, president and chief government officer of Graff USA. “Being a privately owned firm, we do issues fastidiously and strategically. It has by no means been about mass growth however high quality. South Coast Plaza was a goal for a very long time.”

Till now, Graff had no freestanding shops in Southern California. It operates a leased location inside Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and has an impartial retailer close to Union Sq. in San Francisco. However the firm is actively on the lookout for a stand-alone outpost in Beverly Hills. “Rodeo Drive is definitely on our listing of locations we must always have a Graff boutique or salon,” Hruschka stated.

Graff is understood for its uncommon and distinctive diamonds reduce and polished in South Africa and usual into jewellery in London the place the posh home was based by Laurence Graff, the corporate’s chairman. A few of its distinctive diamonds embody the 302.37-carat Graff Lesedi La Rona, unveiled in 2019 because the world’s largest sq. emerald-cut diamond.

The tough stone unearthed in Botswana was acquired in 2017 in a $53 million deal negotiated by Laurence Graff with a handshake. The deal was executed with the Canadian mining firm Lucara Diamond Corp. On the time, the diamond weighed 1,109 carats and was the dimensions of a tennis ball.

For the shop opening, Graff is displaying, for the primary time in the USA, a novel necklace made from 100 carats of white diamonds surrounding a uncommon 50-carat D flawless oval diamond. It would add to the brand new look of the jewellery retailer situated in a major location inside South Coast Plaza, developed in 1967 by the Segerstrom household. 5 a long time later, the freeway-adjacent procuring mecca, initially anchored by Sears and Might Co., has grown and advanced right into a venue whose shops are dominated by the posh class.  

Graff’s neighbors embody Harry Winston, Prada and Cartier. The 1,800-square-foot retailer is incorporating a brand new retailer design that might be applied in upcoming new outposts and retailer remodels.

“We’ve pivoted to a worldwide retailer design that highlights our three product pillars: excessive jewellery and enormous single-stone objects, which are the core DNA of the model. Up to now a number of years, we have now additionally added bridal, which is a major class of marriage ceremony bands and engagement rings. After which there’s the diamond collections, which embody the Butterfly, the Wildflower and Threads collections, the place you can begin at $5,000 for a chunk of jewellery and go up from there,” Hruschka defined. “Our new retailer design evolution will permit all three classes to be displayed correctly and highlighted correctly with clear separations within the retailer.”

Up to now, the perfect Graff retailer was 1,200 sq. toes, however with extra separated areas, 1,800 sq. toes may very well be the norm. The excessive jewellery part is tucked away in a personal space the place clients can view unique objects.

Graff remains to be household owned. Francois Graff, Laurence’s son, is the corporate’s CEO and was scheduled to be on the South Coast Plaza retailer’s opening.  After South Coast Plaza, Graff is slated to roll out over the following 18 months not less than six extra areas worldwide so as to add to its lineup of 60 shops, the corporate stated.