Another Retailer Goes Bankrupt, Shutters Stores, While Tiffany Blames Trump Tower for US Holiday Sa

This time a year ago, Tiffany & Co. cut its full-year forecast after reporting a drop in holiday sales. It blamed sluggish tourist spending and the strong dollar. Rinse and repeat. But today, it changed the culprit to the brouhaha around Trump Tower, the neighbor of its flagship Fifth Avenue store, where sales over the two-month holiday period plunged 14%. In its holiday sales update, Tiffany said that in in the Americas, which represent half of its global business, total sales fell 4% year-over-year, to $483 million, over the holiday period, and comparable store sales also fell 4%. The drop in sales was due to “local customer spending,” it said. So this time, it didn’t blame the hapless tourists.-- More...