As Dollar Declines, Europeans See U.S. As Big Half-Off Sale
Tom Scullion , a taxi dispatcher in London, had his eye on a three-button Hugo Boss suit he saw for sale there for ￡850. He didn't buy it. He never spends that kind of money on clothes, and he doesn't buy designer labels.
But on a recent trip to Florida, Mr. Scullion went shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, where he spotted the very same suit and bought it. It was a steal at $522, the equivalent of ￡300 at the time.
"I couldn't believe how inexpensive it was," he says. During a three-week U.S. vacation, "we just shopped and shopped and shopped."
As the dollar has fallen to a 12-year-low against the British pound and an all-time low against the five-year-old euro, Europeans now view the U.S. as one giant half-off sale on everything from clothes to coffee to restaurant meals. Because so many businesses now operate globally, comparison shopping is easy.
At the London outpost of Nobu, the New York Japanese restaurant, a special set meal costs between $136 and $233 per person, at Friday's exchange rate of $1.94 to the pound. A la carte, the monkfish paté with caviar costs $24.29, and the baby spinach with whitefish salad $22.35.
All of which is out of the question for Catherine Watson, a 38-year-old photographer from Cardiff, Wales -- except when she can snap up cheap dollars to pay for the same meal at Nobu in Manhattan. There, one night recently, armed with dollars purchased at about $1.89 to the pound, she and a friend started with the monkfish pate for $17 and the spinach salad for $16. The chef's special dinners in New York are $80, $100 and $120, about 40% off London prices.
"Things seem so cheap that you turn into a bit of the child in a candy store," says Ms. Watson.
The British invasion isn't always welcomed by New Yorkers. Waiters and bartenders complain that overseas visitors often don't tip because in Europe gratuities are usually added to the bill. Some regular customers are annoyed, too.
Matt Trust, a 28-year-old modeling-agency booking agent, was waiting to be seated at Pastis, a popular restaurant in Manhattan's meatpacking district, last week. With arms crossed and a steady glare, he had his eye on a table occupied by a trio of British women he thought were never going to leave. "Every restaurant is filled with them," he says. "I'm happy they're so flush now, but I'm starving." Also, he didn't like their accents. "Grating," he said.
The hordes from the Old World streaming across the Atlantic are likely only to increase as the dollar, down about 10% against the pound and down 12% against the euro since April, is expected to fall further in 2005. Basic goods, such as household supplies, clothing and food have long tended to be less costly in the U.S., where sales and big discount chains are more prevalent than in Europe. But the disparity currently is much greater. And businesses, from airlines to hotel chains, are stepping up promotional efforts to portray the U.S. as a shopper's paradise.
BARGAIN HUNTING
The dollar's fall creates deals for British shoppers in the U.S.
Apple iPod (20GB: 5,000 songs)
New York City: $299
London: $426
Gap reversible faux-fur vest
Gap in U.S.: $68
Gap in London: $132
Starbucks tall coffee
New York City financial-district store: $1.79
London financial-district store: $2.82
Note: Converted from British pound at current rate
Source: the stores
Travel from some European countries to the U.S. is up nearly 25% so far this year, says Gabriella Vecchio, international marketing manager at the Travel Industry Association of America.
That pace well exceeds the forecast that the U.S. Department of Commerce office of travel and tourism industries made last April for 9.3 million Europeans to visit the U.S. this year, a 7% increase from 2003. American Airlines says its trans-Atlantic flights are 81.3% full, up 3.9 points from a year ago, and it has added flights as well. In London subway advertising, the airline's slogan is: "America Reduced."
"A weak dollar means bargain holidays," declared a recent article in London's Sunday Times. Other travel sections of British newspapers are filled with stories detailing how Christmas shopping in Manhattan promises savings even after hotel and airfare costs.
According to the U.K. Daily Mail's two-page spread of price comparisons, the Gap's funky fake-fur vest sells for $68 in Manhattan, nearly half the $132 price in London. At the Apple Store in Manhattan's SoHo, a pastel mini iPod digital music player, which holds 1,000 songs, sells for $249, compared with about $347 at Apple U.K.
With the rush of U.K. tourists, the U.S. Department of Commerce is about to start a $6 million marketing campaign in the U.K. to promote U.S. travel. Marriott International Inc. plans to increase the number of New York City hotel rooms it saves for U.K. tour operators 25% next year, the company says.
Some restaurants and hotel room-service operations in tourist cities including Washington, Charleston, S.C., and Miami also are going out of their way to cater to the rush. Florida's Portofino Bay Hotel recently added crumpets and HP steak sauce to the breakfast buffet. Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede dinner theater in Orlando just started serving beer specifically to get more U.K. traffic, managers say. New at the Ritz-Carlton in South Beach: topless sunbathing at the pool to help lure guests with a Mediterranean mindset.
The Ritz in Key Biscayne, Fla., just held a "Whisky Weekend" featuring bagpipers and mutton stew to appeal to guests from Scotland. The hotel also permanently stocked the lobby bar with 100 varieties of Scotch. "I even wore a kilt," says David McIntyre, food and beverage director.
Travelers returning to Britain from the U.S. are supposed to pay import duty and tax on all purchases exceeding ￡145 (excluding certain quantities of cigarettes, liquor and perfumes). A spokeswoman for British customs declines to say how many travelers are stopped for not declaring goods or whether agents are stepping up their collection efforts, given the current travel boom. Many travelers say they doubt they'll be stopped because customs agents these days are preoccupied with heightened security.
Before she went to New York a week ago, Londoner Susie Richardson stopped in Selfridges department store to price a pair of Seven jeans. The ones she wanted, with crystal beading on the pocket, were about $427. In New York, at Saks, she bought them for $198.
Mary McLoughlin, a mother in Dublin with three children, recently went to New York for a week while her husband, an engineer, stayed home with the kids, ages 2 to 7. On a friend's recommendation, she hit the outlet stores at Woodbury Common, about an hour north of New York City. On the bus there, she was surrounded by fellow shoppers from Europe, she says.
All together, she says, she spent about $2,100 on coats, diamond earrings, toys, Tommy Hilfiger shirts, Old Navy jeans, and sneakers for the kids.
"I would buy designer clothes for myself and the kids that I wouldn't dream of buying here," says Ms. McLoughlin back home in Dublin. "Everyone I know goes to New York for the shopping."
美国成为欧洲人的“大卖场”
伦敦出租车调度员汤姆?斯库林(Tom Scullion)看上一款售价为850英镑的Hugo Boss衣装。但他没有买。他从不在衣服上花那么多钱，而且他也不买名牌。
但是前不久他去佛罗里达度假，当他在Saks Fifth Avenue购物时，他看到了同一套衣服并掏钱买下。这套衣服的售价仅为522美元，按当时汇价相当于300英镑。
他说，“我简直不敢相信会这么便宜”。在三周的美国假期里，“我们除了购物就是购物。”
随著美元兑英镑跌至12年低点，兑欧元跌至了历史低点，欧洲人现在将美国看作一个大卖场－－在那里，从服装到咖啡到餐饮的一切商品和服务都打半折出售。由于当前有许多企业都是国际化经营，因此购物者很容易对价格进行比较。
在纽约日本餐馆Nobu的伦敦分店，按照一周前1英镑兑1.94美元的汇价，一套特别套餐的价格为每人136-233美元。
这个价格对于来自威尔士加的夫的38岁的摄影师凯瑟琳?沃特森(Catherine Watson)来说是难以负担的－－但是她在曼哈顿的Nobu餐馆便能够用便宜的美元来支付这套套餐。带著按照1.89美元的价格兑换成的美元，她和朋友们在最近一个晚上光顾了纽约的Nobu店。这家店的套餐价格分别为80、100、120美元，比伦敦店便宜40%。
沃特森说，“这里价格如此便宜，让你觉得自己像一个走进糖果店的小孩子。”
在纽约“攻城掠地”的英国人并不总是受到欢迎。餐馆服务员和酒吧招待们抱怨，海外游客通常不会给小费，因为在欧洲小费通常是加到账单里面的。此外，纽约一些固定的消费者也感到不胜其烦。
28岁的模特经纪公司经纪员麦特?塔斯特(Matt Trust)上周有一天在曼哈顿著名餐馆Pastis等待入位，他抱著胳膊，注视著一张三个英国女人围坐的桌位，他感觉她们似乎永远都不想离开座位。他说，“每个餐馆里都有她们的身影。我很高兴她们成群结队来到这里，但是我现在很饿。”此外，他还不喜欢她们的口音。“真刺耳”，他说。
由于预计美元在2005年将进一步走低，从大西洋另一端蜂拥而至的游客只有可能还会增加，自今年4月以来，美元兑英镑下跌了10%左右，兑欧元下跌了12%。长期以来，诸如日需品、服装和食品等一些基本商品在美国的价格通常就比较低，因为美国的促销和折扣商店比欧洲更普遍。但是现在这种差别正在进一步扩大。从航空公司到酒店，各种企业正加大促销举措，竭力将美国塑造成为购物者的天堂。
美国旅游协会(Travel Industry Association of America)的国际营销经理格伯瑞拉?维克乔(Gabriella Vecchio)说，从欧洲来到美国的旅游者数量今年迄今为止已经增长了近25%。
这一增速远远超过了美国商务部(U.S. Department of Commerce)旅游部门在今年四月所作的预期，当时预计今年欧洲游客数量为930万人，较2003年增长7%。美利坚航空公司(American Airlines)称，其跨大西洋航班的上座率为81.3%，较一年前增加3.9%，并且该航空公司还增加了航班。在伦敦地铁的广告中，该航空公司的广告语是“攻陷美国”。
伦敦的星期日泰晤士报(Sunday Times)在最近一篇文章中宣称，“美元走弱意味著折扣假期。”英国报纸的旅游版面充斥著描述圣诞节去曼哈顿购物如何在扣除房费和机票后仍能省钱的文章。
根据U.K. Daily Mail两页长的价格比较，Gap新款皮夹克在曼哈顿的售价为68美元，几乎是伦敦售价132美元的一半。在曼哈顿SoHo的苹果(Apple)店，能够储存1,000首歌的微型iPod数字播放器售价为249美元，而在英国为347美元。
有鉴于英国游客大量涌入，美国商务部将开始在英国推出一个耗资600万美元的美国旅游推介项目。万豪国际集团(Marriott International Inc.)称，该公司计划明年把留给英国旅游团的纽约宾馆房间数量增加25%。
华盛顿、查尔斯顿、南加州和迈阿密等旅游城市的一些餐馆和酒店的运营也竭力迎合这个旅游浪潮。佛罗里达的 Portofino Bay Hotel 最近在早餐供应中增加了烤饼和HP牛排调味汁。Dolly Parton在奥兰多的Dixie Stampede剧院餐馆开始提供啤酒，特别吸引更多英国游客。South Beach的丽嘉酒店(Ritz-Carlton)增添了新内容：裸身日光浴，以吸引来自地中海地区的游客。
佛罗里达州Key Biscayne的丽嘉酒店刚刚举行了“威士忌周末”活动，活动用风笛手以及□羊肉吸引来自苏格兰的游客。酒店还在大厅酒吧里摆上了100多种苏格兰威士忌。酒吧食品和饮料主管戴维?麦肯塔瑞(David McIntyre)说，“我甚至还穿上了苏格兰短裙。”
从美国返回英国的游客需要对所有超过145英镑的商品（不包括一定数量的烟、酒以及香水）支付进口税以及其他税项。英国海关的发言人拒绝透露在目前旅游人数猛增的情形下，有多少游客由于没有上报物品而被截留以及税务人员是否增强了收税力度。许多旅游者称，他们担心有可能在海关被拦住，因为最近海关加强了安全措施。
来自伦敦的苏什?理查德森(Susie Richardson)在去纽约之前走入Selfridges商店了解一条Seven牛仔裤的价钱。她看中的这款在口袋上有水晶装饰的牛仔裤售价为427美元。而在纽约的Saks，她仅以198美元买到了这条裤子。
都柏林一位有著三个孩子的母亲玛丽?麦克劳林(Mary McLoughlin)最近在纽约呆了一周，她的工程师丈夫则留在家中照看孩子。在一位朋友的推荐下，她前往距离纽约一小时车程的Woodbury Common。她说，在大巴上全是来自欧洲的购物者。
她说，她总共支出了2,100美元，购买了外套、钻石耳饰、玩具、Tommy Hilfiger衬衫、Old Navy牛仔裤以及儿童运动鞋。
回到家的麦克劳林说，“我为自己和孩子们购买名牌服装，而我在家里做梦也不会买这些东西。我所认识的每个人到纽约都是为了购物。”
