Living the good life on Rodeo Drive

On Main Street America, the unofficial recession has taken the fun out of shopping for the majority of Americans. Even the "aspirationally wealthy" who make under a million a year in income are cutting back to the point where the venerable Saks Fifth Avenue is posting losses in revenue. But life is good in Beverly Hills.

"Business has been crazy-great," gushed Kim Gregory, manager of the Christofle shop on Brighton Way, purveyor of silver flatware and other furnishings. "It's like Christmas in here."

"Most of my clients have those black American Express cards, the ones made out of titanium," Gregory said. "They don't worry about their mortgages. They don't worry about recession. They just want to buy."

And tourism may be down for the budget travellers but at the top end of the economic scale, the weak dollar apparently makes it worth the hassle at US customs to come to America for some hard core shopping.

Not all those purchases were made by well-to-do Americans and Canadians, of course. Retailers in Beverly Hills said they were seeing a lot of business from European travelers with pockets full of super-strong euros, as well as visitors from Saudi Arabia flush with record-high oil profits.

"Saudi princesses," confided a saleswoman at one Rodeo Drive clothing store she didn't want named. "That's who's doing all the buying."

I wonder if they ever chat up Meghan McCain while they're waiting for the cashier to ring up their purchases? [via]


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