No Breakfast at Tiffany's: Iconic jewelry store's Fifth Avenue location set ablaze

Tiffany & Co.’s flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan was ablaze Thursday morning, according to officials from the New York City Fire Department (NYFD).

The world famous NYC store, which was featured in the 1961 film, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” starring Audrey Hepburn was set on fire, purportedly after a 9:38 a.m. transformer fire erupted.

At 12:03 p.m. the fire was under control, the fire department said, but there were no injuries reported.

Con Edison, New York City’s utility company, appeared at the scene, right beside Trump Tower.

Video taken from Tiffany’s shortly before 11:30 a.m. showed the NYFD shooting water at the building and smoke damage was visible on the store's exterior.

Tiffany’s, which is located in the poshest area of Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street briefly shut down and reopened April 28 after a three year renovation as a department store.

It was the first time the store underwent a makeover since it opened in 1940 at the eve of the Second World War.

“The reopening of the iconic Fifth Avenue Landmark is a major milestone for our House symbolic of a new era for Tiffany & Co., the Landmark is much more than a jewelry store, it is a cultural hub with an exquisite showcase of architecture and superior hospitality, as well as cutting-edge art and design. It sets a new bar for luxury retail on a global scale,” said the store’s CEO Anthony Ledru, in an April statement.

In addition to adding new products, the store boasted its new architecture and interior décor.

“Upon entering the new store, clients are immediately immersed in an expansive main floor of jewelry cases illuminated by an innovative take on a skylight. The ceiling installation spans nearly the room’s length and is composed of an abstraction of facets. Its unique design is a tribute to Tiffany’s heritage and authority as the purveyor of the world’s finest diamonds. Integrated throughout the Landmark’s 10 floors are nearly 40 artworks, including never-before-seen Tiffany-commissioned pieces,” the statement said.

The iconic jewelry store is known for selling luxury items and stones. It also sells a popular line of expensive, but more affordable sterling jewelry.

In the film, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly visit with her friend, Fred, played by George Peppard and the two consider purchasing a sterling silver phone dialer “strictly as a novelty item.” Instead, they pay ten dollars to engrave an aluminum ring they got a in a Cracker Jack box.

Tiffany & Co. was founded I 1837 by jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany and rose to global status in the twentieth century. In 2018, it’s net sales totaled about $4.44 billion dollars, and by 2019 it had 326 stores throughout the world.