No, really. That is what Tiffany executives must think, looking at the sea of tourists at its fabled flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

Eclipsing a 4-percent drop in same-store sales in its other stores, the New York store posted a 16-percent rise.

Thanks to those tourists, U.S. same-store sales in the quarter for Tiffany didn’t slip into the red.

The jeweler, best known for its classic designs and the robin-blue box, is now thinking that its U.S. sales will start to look up later than expected, and is, instead, looking to markets like Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, other than Japan, for good fortunes.

A company spokesman said sales grew at most price points — right from $500 to $50,000 and above with no meaningful differences. Only items selling below $500 experiences some softness, Mark Aaron said.

The company says brand new items are in the making — those will range from diamond jewelry in its Metro collection and additions to its Swing and Victoria collections. There will also be new charms, including ones in platinum and diamonds in various design motifs. 

Just as well. David Schick of Stifel Nicolaus thinks shaky economic times might actually sway people’s thinking in Tiffany’s favor.

“I think Tiffany’s brand and the classic design is also perhaps coming into vogue.  Perhaps the uncertainty out there in the world is helping people look towards Tiffany as ‘there is a classic value in buying Tiffany jewelry’,” he said.

(Photo: Reuters)
 

Tax rebate checks are in the mail and some of the rebate cash has already made its way to consumers’ wallets. But will this cash infusion give the economy (and struggling retailers) a boost?

According to interviews Reuters conducted with consumers across the United States over the past week, the answer seems to be that most of the extra money will be heading toward the basics — like food, fuel and credit card payments — with just a little left over for splurges.

Here are some comments we rounded up:

• “I will almost certainly save it,” Courtney Hancock said outside a shopping center in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. “At this point there isn’t anything that I’ve been waiting to buy.” Her expected $600 rebate check will likely be used for a bigger purchase later. 
• Lisa Hasson, 39, free-lance pianist and mother of twin, 2-year-old boys in Cincinnati. “I’m probably just putting it in a savings account — holding onto it for the summer. Lean living for lean times.” 
• Ava Lee, 34, has been out of work in Los Angeles since December and says she’ll use her rebate check to pay for “necessary expenses” like food and gas. ”I’d use mine for everyday spending. I would not go out and say, ‘Ooh! I have extra money’,” said Lee, who has turned off her heat and air conditioning to keep expenses down. 
• Sarah Ortiz of Houston said she decided early on to use the tax rebate to pay debt. “I’m trying to get down to one credit card. They say we’re in a credit-crunch,” she said. 
• Daniel Pillow of Houston said he planned to use his rebate to pay his American Express bill, but admitted he’d already used the card to buy some extra clothes in anticipation of getting a check. “I may have spent a little bit, knowing that I was going to get a check,” said Pillow, an employee of the Houston Public Library system. 
• Morgan Lawson, 58, works at the Time-Life Building in New York supervising newspaper deliveries. ”The likelihood of saving it is slim,” he said, adding that prices seem to be rising across the board. He thinks he will have to spend it on necessities, like food and higher energy prices and clothes for his children. ”It sure doesn’t hurt,” to get the extra cash, he said, “But, it’s not a huge boost.” 
• Sergio Rivas, a computer network administrator from Hialeah, Florida, said he would put his rebate toward a deposit on a new apartment.  He said he’s looking for “something a little bit bigger, hopefully with some kind of patio.” 
• Paula Goehe, 61, retired administrative assistant in Indiana: “I’m sorry to tell you I’m not going to spend it. We need the money for retirement. We’ve been retired four or five years and we spent a lot to put our children through college, so we’ll be saving it — even though there is no interest at all.” 
• Dana Bulan, a teacher who lives in Chicago, said she will use her $300 rebate check to pay for her regular tennis lessons and won’t bother trying to save it. ”It’s such a small amount of money, it’s not worth, I think, trying to put it someplace else,” Bulan said.
• John Barker, 57, who installs swimming pools for the “super-rich” in the St. Louis area, said that although his business had not been affected by slowing economic growth, spiraling costs meant he had few plans for his rebate check. ”I’ll put it into my checking account and no doubt it will go for gas or food,” he said in the parking lot of a branch of Bank of America on the outskirts of St Louis. “Looking at the price of oil, I think I’ll need it to fill up my truck.” 

(Click here to read full story) 

(Photo: Reuters)

American small business owners are a resolute lot, pushing ahead with plans to grow their operations despite losing a large chunk of sales to soaring energy costs, an American Express OPEN survey showed on Friday.

Ironically, most are also day-dreamers who look on the bright side , the survey added.

Although only 45 percent of U.S. small business owners are optimistic, — a sharp drop from 2004 – more than 70 percent plan to grow their businesses over the next six months, the survey said. Half of them are willing to take on added financial risk to get it done.

It’s not surprising then that the survey showed nearly 9 of 10 small business owners describe themselves as “seeing the glass half-full.” And despite the growing economic uncertainty throughout the nation, the survey said 75 percent of small business owners would still recommend a friend or family member become an entrepreneur.

Nevertheless, some small business owners see the glass half-empty.

Retail business owners have the most negative outlook, with nearly half expecting the economic environment to hurt their prospects, the survey said. One in five small businesses in states located in the northern midwest think they’re in jeopardy of going under.

And 56 percent of small businesses are having cash flow problems, according to the survey.