Retail sales in NYC have fallen 8-10 percent from 2008, yet Apple has increased 2.5 percent and may be the highest grossing Fifth Avenue retailer.

Apple’s Fifth Avenue emporium probably has annual sales of more than $350 million, topping any of the chain’s other outlets, said Jeffrey Roseman, executive vice president of real- estate broker Newmark Knight Frank Retail in New York. The location is 10,000 square feet, putting its sales per square foot at a minimum of $35,000, based on Roseman’s estimate.

That’s the equivalent of selling one Mercedes-Benz C300 sedan per square foot. Apple may be the highest grossing retailer ever on Fifth Avenue, said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the retail leasing and sales division at Manhattan-based Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

About two weeks ago I was in both Tiffany’s and Apple at about the same time on successive weekdays, and the difference in the amount of people (and people actually buying) was beyond compare. I had no problem browsing every counter on the main floor and the third floor in Tiffany’s, and was constantly asked if I needed assistance. In contrast, every table in the Apple store was jam packed with people, sometimes three deep waiting to play with a Mac or an iPod/iPhone, and the line to purchase general items was 20 minutes long.

Let me make sure you understand exactly what the above means…in the 5th Ave store, if you want to buy a Mac, iPhone, or iPod, you do so at small, dedicated “kiosks” around the main floor; if a salesperson assists you in deciding which third-party radio/iPod dock you should buy for your iPod or whatever else they sell there, they check you out right there with your credit card using a wireless doohicky; the only people standing on the general cash register line are people who are paying cash, or who are buying boxed products and weren’t lucky enough to get help from the roving Apple staff…even with 10+ cash registers servicing the line, it was still 20 minutes.

After my visits to both Tiffany’s and Apple, I bought more Apple stock. The difference between the day it opened and the middle of a major recession was nil.