Ramped up security measures and ongoing anti-Trump protests could be a significant double-whammy to Trump Tower businesses in the crucial holiday shopping season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The entertainment trade magazine’s informal survey found that high-end boutiques usually bustling with holiday traffic — including Gucci, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Henri Bendel and Tiffany & Co. — were experiencing dwindling sales and empty floors in the wake of the Nov. 8 election.
“We’re very nervous [about the approaching holiday shopping season],” THR quoted an unnamed Gucci salesperson as saying. The luxury accessories retailer has had its flagship New York retail location inside Trump Tower since 2008.
Both Mr. Trump’s status as president-elect and ongoing anti-Trump street protests have ensured a heightened local and federal security presence, which dampens foot traffic to retail locations at or near the Fifth Avenue landmark.
“When you lose impulse buying, you lose a minimum of 25 percent,” NPD Group analyst Marshal Cohen told THR. “And New York is always a different animal than the rest of the country, but holiday business this year was going to be healthy, though not robust.”
The real loser, however, could be the mom-and-pop stores that are not prepared to weather the financial impact, Mr. Cohen said.
“It’s independent businesses or the guy with the food truck or the person who has a pizzeria or a small restaurant on a side street,” he said. “Those are the ones who are really going to feel the pain.”
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