Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves

Source: New York Times

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.

The luxury category has posted 10 consecutive months of sales increases compared with the year earlier, even as overall consumer spending on categories like furniture and electronics has been tepid, according to the research service MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. In July, the luxury segment had an 11.6 percent increase, the biggest monthly gain in more than a year.




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/business/sales-of-luxury-goods-are-recovering-strongly.html

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:eyes:

We were at Downtown Disney last weekend. Each and every store was packed with folks in a buying frenzy. In addition, the over-pricedrestaurants were packed, with lines at each one.

Money was being spent like there would be no tomorrow.

and those thieves know the party is just about over. In fact, I'm sure the showrooms are empty today with the market laying a large, rotten, malodorous egg.

When things start failing to make the reserve at Sotheby's, you'll know the truly wealthy are starting to tighten their belts a bit.