The car was slowly driving from the poorer area of Brooklyn towards the center of New York, Manhattan. Everyone inside the car was weirdly quiet. While Simon was thinking about his plans for today, Howard was curiously looking around the luxurious car. Shortly after Simon decided on the next goal and gave an address to his driver.
When the car finally came of a stop, Howard was completely dazzled by the sight in front of him.
For years, Manhattan's 855 Madison Avenue had been an outlet for a Gristede grocery store, surrounded by shops selling electric appliances, antiques and furs. But by 1968, the space had been remodeled, with huge plate-glass windows, an aluminum tunnel entrance and, inside, distinctive orange carpeting that climbed right up the walls. It had become Yves Saint Laurent's Rive Gauche, his boutique beachhead in the U.S. And in the fashion world, Yves's name is magic.
Instead of selling cheap versions of his couture designs, Saint Laurent used the boutique to test new ideas and create completely independent collections. This proved to be a huge success and represented an important movement away from the large, gilded world of haute couture salons.
Before letting Howard see the future life, he desperately desired, he first needed to get a major overhaul. When he walked into this famous boutique, wearing some old sports cloths stained with dirt and sweat, Howard felt like a peasant walking into a castle full of gold. The servers were extremely surprised by his attire but still behaved extremely professional. When the manager of the boutique noticed this scene, he wasn't attracted to the poor unkempt boy, but his eyes were immediately focused on Simon Smith, the New York idol.
When talking to the manager Simon calmly offered some explanations and shortly after Howard was let to a changing room where he first hat to take a shower. Once he was cleaned up, he was treated like a puppet. He was dressed in as many as five completely different attires and the manager only led him leave when he was completely satisfied with the new outfit. He even invited a hair stylist to completely change Howard's style.
The poor boy from Brooklyn changed into a young stylish Upper East Side gentleman within a few hours.
When he stood in front of Simon again, who was drinking some Scotch whisky and talking to a beautiful employee of the shop, the young billionaire nearly couldn't recognize his future CEO anymore.
"I couldn't recognize you for a moment, Howard. I would like to introduce Michelle Sanchez to you. She is working at this store while completing her degree in fashion design at the NYU. You could say she is a junior of me.
She is very friendly and has a great taste in fashion. I invited her to join us for the rest of the day. My girlfriend will arrive her soon, I didn't want you to feel left out. We will go shopping for some jewelry and watches after a while. You can't wear a nice suit without a matching watch, right?" Simon said playfully.
The conversation between Howard and Michelle was awkward at first, but slowly Howard began to feel more natural. Wearing a beautiful suit and sitting next to one of the richest men in New York boosted his self-confidence a lot. The young girl from New Jersey tried her best to improve the quality of their conversation, because a man valued by Simon Smith surely had a great future ahead. Delivering warmth for people that are still inexperienced would surely leave a great impression once this person improved his social standing in the future.
When Sarah Harisson arrived at the boutique of Saint Laurent, she was very curious. Her boyfriend wasn't the type of guy to visit a shopping mall. At most she would choose something for him, and the service personal would deliver it to his apartment.
When she arrived at the VIP room an even bigger surprise was awaiting her. Simon was just sitting by the side slowly communicating with a young girl, obviously wearing the outfit of a service person, and a young teenager she didn't know.
But even when calmly greeting her boyfriend with a kiss and introducing herself to the two strangers afterwards, she was still full of questions. Who was Howard Schultz?
Slowly she began to understand while joining their conversation. Michelle Sanchez was just a simple girl, being born into a middle-class family in New Jersey. Howard Schultz seemed even more normal, just a random person her genius boyfriend met by surprise. But somehow Sarah couldn't believe it. Her significant other never did pointless things, not a single time since she got to know him. He wouldn't just randomly walk around in Brooklyn and wasting a whole day.
But for the time being she chose to just go with the flow. After asking for permission Michelle could leave her work early, of course. The small group went on its way to the next attraction of New York.
When Michelle and Sarah learned about their next destination, but of the girls were very excited. Michelle, because she would have never dreamt to buy something at this place, and Sarah, because her boyfriend, for the first time, was taking her to buy jewelry in New York in person.
The Tiffany & Co. flagship store is a ten-story retail building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, within the luxury shopping district on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 60th Streets. The building, at 727 Fifth Avenue, has served as Tiffany & Co.'s sixth flagship store since its completion in 1940.
The building's first-floor main salesroom has 780 m2 and is 7.3 m tall. It has no supporting columns in its superstructure. The ceiling is instead supported by three 100-ton trusses spanning the 26 m width of the building, each of which consists of upper and lower girders connected by crossbeams.
When Michelle and Howard walked into this building full of luxurious jewelry and expensive watches, both felt a little scared in their heart. Breaking something in this building would probably put them in debt for a long time.