Tiffany Ups Growth With Strong Sales

NEW YORK CITY-Bolstered by strong fourth-quarter results, luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. is slightly increasing its store opening plans for the year from 2006. Executives plan to open 17 stores internationally this year, representing square footage growth of 10%, up from the 8% added last year.

New domestic stores in Austin, TX; New York City’s Wall Street area; the Las Vegas Strip; Natick, MA; and Red Bank, NJ; among other markets, are on tap. Germany, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are among the foreign markets that will get some of the 10 units planned overseas.

Two stores will close in Japan, Tiffany’s largest foreign market, which is also the only entire geographic region that posted declining sales. Same-store sales fell 4% year over year during the quarter in Japan, as consumer spending there cooled. Hawaii and Guam also experienced sales declines due to fewer transactions by Japanese tourists in those markets.