Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves (NYT)-Need A Pair Of $1,495 Louis Vuitton shoes?

[kpete]

Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
Published: August 3, 2011

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.



Lissette Gutierrez chose a pair of $1,495 Louis Vuitton shoes at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan.


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?_r=2&hp

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. That's a relief.

:sarcasm:

[hobbit709]

2. Anyone that spends $1500 on a pair of ankle breakers

obviously has more money than brains.

And they're ugly shoes too.

[KittyWampus]

6. Woman my step-Mom works for buys at least 3 pairs of Cole Haan shoes a WEEK. Often doesn't wear them

and then gives them to my step-Mom, used or unused.

[Lifelong Protester]

3. I am beyond disgusted at the rich elite in this country.

Articles like this really tick me off, but shows why we need to TAX THE RICH.

[SOS]

4. Recently overheard on Park Avenue at 2 PM.

Two women were standing at the rear of the their chauffeured Mercedes.
The driver was unloading a trunk full of shopping bags from Bergdorf Goodman.
One woman to the other: "Do you think the summer dress is too whimsical?"

A glimpse of how the ruling class spends their afternoon.

[Blue_Tires]

5. Why does this surprise anyone? Wall Street has been raking it in...

What did they expect? The NYT thinks the bottom 95 percent have all the money?

[KittyWampus]

7. We all know the NYTimes does their best to keep that upper 1% firmly ensconced in their obscene

wealth.

I actually distinguish between the upper 5% and uppermost 1%.

Most DU'ers will never see the uppermost 1%.

[SOS]

9. Exactly

The new super rich are invisible.

Private jets, chauffeured cars with tinted windows, helicopters, private entrances, walled estates....

They purposefully keep themselves well hidden as they glide above the masses.
We'll never see them.

They know that if we got a good look at the Wall Street hustlers 40-room summer estate,
those of us struggling to pay for housing and food might get angry.

[southmost]

8. those shoes would be a bargain compared

to the $39000 Ashley Olsen line purses created for uber rich teenagers

and we'll be seeing much more of this in this guilded age

[dtexdem]

10. See: consumer confidence isn't dead -- among superrich consumers.

They want to spend some of that money they've stolen from the rest of us.

[jmowreader]

11. So THAT'S what $1500 shoes look like!

I had a pair of $150 Danner combat boots whose toecaps were exactly like the toecaps on these shoes. They were great boots.

Maybe if they were purple they'd have been worth $1500.

[GSLevel9]

12. I have NO problem with that... you know why?

Because if Bergdorf Goodman sells lots of $1400 shoes maybe they'll hire more sales people, run more advertisement, need more print material produced, need some window cleaners, some warehouse help and will buy a couple new delivery trucks.