Sunroom Desk

During a 4th Quarter 2008 earnings investor conference call for Tiffany & Co. yesterday (transcript here), Vice President of Investor Relations Mark Aaron highlighted the relative success of the “small formats” Tiffany & Co. store in Glendale’s Americana at Brand. Aaron told investors:

…the conclusion to 2008 was the most challenging in the 21 years since Tiffany became a public company. Consumers were bombarded with various external pressures that you are all well aware of. All of which not surprisingly took a toll on their spending and on Tiffany sales result.

…On a monthly basis in this fourth quarter, US comps declined 39% in November, 33% in December and 23% in January. For the quarter, the softness was wide-spread and consistent, with comps down 33%, branch stores 35% and the nine store New York region and 34% in our New York flagship store.

…customers seem to appreciate our new smaller formats store in Glendale, California, although the economy is having an effect on its results there too.

Despite the tough environment though, we are pleased that the Glendale store is generating a high levels of profitability relative to other new US stores. We finished the year with 76 stores in the US.