Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves

Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month in the United States than it had in any July in five years.

Even with the economy in a funk and many Americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and about anything that catches their fancy. Luxury goods stores, which fared much worse than other retailers in the recession, are more than recovering — they are zooming. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price.

“If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?” said Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies at the consulting firm Kurt Salmon, and the former chairman and chief executive of Saks.

The rich do not spend quite as they did in the free-wheeling period before the recession, but they are closer to that level.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/business/sales-of-luxury-goods-are-recovering-strongly.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

kinda depends upon just how many were ordered & are in inventory to get that "sell-thru".

in five years.

Numbers are relative.

But sales numbers say a lot.

has a conscience that allows them to buy luxury goods. OTOH, greed is always an upward spiral. imho

as well as all those workers who made the stuff.

there would be MORE happy salespeople and workers not to mention the beneficiaries of their purchases. imho

at the producers of high end goods but at the purchasers of those goods.

Frankly I think it's a good business move to target the rich to get them to spend some of their money so at least they're sort of creating jobs.

The McMansion people did it 4 years ago when it was obvious the housing bubble had burst and things were getting shaky in financial markets.

The McMansion people were eventually very shocked at those desperation yard sales when the depression came to their doors that those $1500 Coach handbags were worth only five bucks used.

So the gilded plutocracy is going to be rather shocked that eventually they're going to have to make the Mercedes last and that it's a temperamental old car once the warranty's up because when their taxes finally go up (and they will, they have to), getting a new Mercedes to match every evening outfit is no longer a fun idea.

maybe some of these rich folks would like to do as the sign said in 2008, "JUMP, YOU FUCKERS!"

it's time to start breaking shit.

Somehow, I have surrounded myself with friends and acquaintances who seem to earn significantly more than I. My family struggles to make it from paycheck to paycheck, but we have good food on the table and a reliable car in the driveway, so we're not too bad off. I am STUNNED by the way my friends spend money though, as if they hadn't a financial care in the world. Fancy cars, expensive clothes, grand vacations...you name it, they got it.

It seems that every year, my family has to struggle a little harder just to stay afloat, while these people around me get richer and richer. It just doesn't seem right...

I haven't been able to afford to go see my family even by car in 4 years. And one of our acquaintances is talking about taking 2 months off to "chill" in Costa Rica while taking a massage class at a spa. She comes from a rich family and thinks she is poor.

short order, they're broke! They idea of tucking some away for a rainy day didn't occur to them!?!