Hamptons merchants say shoppers in buying mood

Two years ago, many customers who entered Erin Meaney's Southampton flower shop would ask the price of everything and often leave empty-handed.

But Meaney says the mood has changed and now they are buying. "It's almost like the tom-toms are beating and you can hear it because they are ready," said Meaney, 48, who owns the Topiaire Flower Shop. "If everything stays on the level it's been for the first 2½ weeks of May, we will surpass last year [in sales] quite nicely."

Like Meaney, Hamptons restaurateurs, specialty food shop owners and gift-shop and home-goods retailers say they expect the rising sales seen last summer to continue this season -- weather permitting.

While some consumers are still price-conscious, the taboo that had accompanied purchases deemed extravagant has been fading, retailers say. And they point to the dozens of new shops that have filled the vacancies, according to East End chambers of commerce.

"Already quite a bit of the high-end outdoor furniture has sold, so we should be OK," said a "cautiously optimistic" Henry H. Hildreth, 54, president and chief executive of Hildreth's Department Store, which has locations in Southampton and East Hampton. "When you see the top end selling out quicker than the bottom end, that's good."

Still, merchants say the heady days of extravagant spending have not made a full comeback and probably won't return for a very long time.

Mark Smith, managing partner of the Honest Management firm, is anticipating a better summer than last year's. The average tab at the company's four East End restaurants, which include Nick & Toni's in East Hampton and La Fondita in Amagansett, has been up 10 percent to 12 percent, he said. And customers have been buying the better wines.

"Last summer, even the people who could spend on expensive wines weren't spending, because they thought it was insensitive," Smith said.

Many retailers still maintain a selection with a wide price range. A number of Topiaire's customers will spend upward of a thousand dollars a week to decorate their homes with fresh-cut arrangements, Meaney said. But the flower and gift shop also sells lower-priced gift items like her miniature potted orchids that go for $15.

Stephanie Finkelstein, owner of The Elegant Setting in Southampton, downsized to a smaller, bungalow-style space and shifted her assortment, cutting down on china and crystal. Her prices range from $20 and $50 to about $500.

"Nicely priced gifts, things we can monogram for them . . . we decided to go with things they can grab and go," she said.

The North Fork is benefiting, too. "For a while it was a little scary, because we had a lot of empty storefronts," said Joe Corso, president of the North Fork Chamber of Commerce. "In Southold, Cutchogue, Greenport, we have new businesses, and the trend has turned."

The Hamptons' sophisticated art crowd was one reason why Hilary Schaffner and Ryan Wallace chose an East Hampton location for their new art gallery, which focuses on emerging artists. Unlike the Lower East Side, the Hamptons is a place where the Halsey McKay Gallery can carve out a distinct niche.

"We are planning on staying and trying to create an art scene that is a little bit more geared toward a younger generation of artists," Schaffner, 32, said.

DJango's Organics, an East Hampton organic market and juice bar, is expected to get a boost from visitors to the harbor just a few blocks away, said general manager Sarah Malone, 59. But she said year-round locals and homeowners returning from Florida also have discovered the new store.

"It has real potential, and we are already seeing that because they are coming and getting the house ready for the season," she said. "It was important for us to open in March so we could be visible for that kind of crowd."