Tiffany & Co. just opened a California flagship store—and its eye-catching design is inspired by the Pacific Coast

Designed by Peter Marino, the new South Coast Plaza store draws inspiration from Southern California’s coastline, blending contemporary art, rare gemstones, and immersive design into a retail experience meant to be explored in person.

For years, the prevailing wisdom among retail experts was that luxury shopping would steadily migrate online. Instead, the opposite seems to be happening, as new flagship stores blur the line between boutique, gallery, and cultural destination. Tiffany & Co.’s new South Coast Plaza store in Costa Mesa, California, is the latest example.

Designed by architect Peter Marino, the 15,000-square-foot store opened last month and takes inspiration from its Southern California location, rather than simply importing visual cues from the iconic Fifth Avenue flagship (which Marino renovated in 2023).

Digital installations by the artist Oyoram project views of the coastline from nearby Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. And throughout the store, archival gems connect Tiffany to the region’s geology, including a rare specimen of morganite from Mesa Grande in San Diego County (on loan from a private collection), as well as historic kunzite pieces.

“To me, Southern California is all about nature, and we tried to play up that aspect,” says Marino, whose ongoing collaboration with Tiffany has helped redefine the jeweler’s global retail presence, including in Milan, Tokyo, and Miami.

The project also reflects a broader shift in Marino’s thinking about experiential retail. “I’ve upped the quotient of giving more to the customer,” he says. “Local natural elements add more reason to come in. There’s more art to look at. There’s luxurious carpets to step on. And so you feel like there’s a real sensual experience that you can’t get from a computer screen.”

Anthony Ledru, president and CEO of Tiffany & Co., said the new store underscores a retail philosophy built on continuity rather than constant reinvention. “I’m thrilled to celebrate our new South Coast Plaza presence, a testament to our decades-long collaboration with the Segerstrom family,” Ledru said, referring to the plaza’s developers.

“We see parallels with other successful iconic, family-owned luxury retail destinations,” Ledru added. “ Whether it’s the Whitman family’s meticulous curation of Bal Harbour Shops, or Craig Robins’s visionary development of the Miami Design District, or Frank Castagna’s evolution of Americana Manhasset, which transformed an entire neighborhood, there’s a common thread.”

That philosophy is evident throughout the new space, where architecture, contemporary art, archival craftsmanship, and jewelry are presented as part of the same narrative. The result shrugs off the constraints of a conventional boutique, creating a place where people can go to learn about more than jewelry, while reminding visitors that, even in an increasingly digital world, the most memorable shopping experiences still involve face-to-face human contact.

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