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SYRACUSE Local retailers are hoping for better results in the key back-to-school tiffany accessories season after seeing sluggish sales in July.

“In July we hit a brick wall,” says Tom Cunningham, co-owner of Eureka Crafts, a jewelry and accessory store in Syracuse’s Armory Square. “Our sales are 12 percent below last summer.”

Sales at nearby Way Off the Beaten Path, which sells handmade jewelry and stones and accessories like scarves, are down by about 25 percent from last summer, says Angelique Mango, owner.

Maria Laface, owner of women’s specialty boutique Oleander, located at 270 W. Jefferson St., says her numbers were down a little from last summer, but not drastically.

“It’s just a bump in the road,” Laface says.

Down the street, Jan Minney, owner of accessory and handbag store Jan’s Addiction, says simply, “July is hard.”

However, some area retailers are enjoying success this summer.

The Forever21 store in Carousel Center, which sells low-priced clothing for teens tiffany young adults, generated a sales increase of 20 percent to 30 percent in July and 34 percent so far this summer, says Randy Dritz, co-manager of the local store.

Dritz attributes Forever21’s success to low prices and Canadian customers who keep business booming on the weekends. He expects sales to continue growing in August.

“August is the biggest month,” Dritz says. “Back-to-school shopping is bigger than Christmas.”

Nationally, retail sales fell 0.1 percent in July, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Aug. 13. Excluding auto sales, which fell sharply, U.S. retail sales rose 0.4 percent in July.

Changing trends

Late August starts the big shopping season, says Marilyn Ringwood, owner of women’s shop Elsbeth Rose in Armory Square.

Year to date, the store’s sales have increased 10 percent over last year’s total, tiffany ring says. She attributes her shop’s success to people shopping locally to treat themselves instead of traveling amid high gas prices.

Scott Owsiany, store manager at the Sports Authority store in Carousel Center, concurs that sticker shock at the gas pump has changed consumer shopping patterns.

“Now people are going for a one-shot deal, as opposed to making several trips to the mall,” he says. “People are still buying.”

Consumers are more discretionary customers, adds John Massara, manager of Mr. Shop, a men’s designer-clothing store on West Fayette Street in Syracuse.

“Customers may buy three things instead of four,” he says.

Mr. Shop is selling fewer units, but the store’s average price point is still higher than expected, Massara says. Since Mr. Shop carries European designers, its prices increased when the American dollar declined against the Euro. With higher retail tags, sales have remained consistent despite customers purchasing fewer tiffany bracelet.

Consumers are trying to go as easy on their pocketbooks as they can.

“People are spending in the $25-$100 range, not above $100,” Mango of Way Off the Beaten Path says.

They are in an “I can’t spend money” mindset, adds Yasha Deregis, an employee for The Edge, a discount designer clothing shop in Armory Square.

“People are shopping practically,” she says. “They are not buying trendy pieces, but things that can last for a while.”

Retailers adapt

As customers are thinking more about their spending habits, retailers are adjusting by reducing their inventory.

Oleander’s Laface says she scaled back her inventory around December or January, but is slowly starting to increase it as customers return to regular spending habits.

“People are realizing this is life,” Laface says. “They are regaining their confidence to shop.”

Mango says wholesale price increases have caused her to reduce her inventory of gold she uses to make jewelry. She also cut prices by holding a sale for the first time in her shop’s existence to try to attract more customers.

Other retailers are considering raising prices to cover higher wholesale costs.

“Wholesale prices have inched up, which I have tried to protect my customers from,” Ringwood of Elsbeth Rose says. “But in [the] fall, prices will rise a teeny bit.”

Another way to boost sales is to hold a going-out-of-business sale.

Jessica Palladino, the assistant manager of the Urban Behavior teen clothing store in Carousel Center, says the store’s sales jumped this summer during its going-out-of-business blowout sale. The store will close around October. Connecticut based CMT America Corp., the parent company of the Urban Behavior chain of tiffany cufflink stores, filed for bankruptcy protection July 13, citing the slowing economy.