News

Luxury spending is up

December 13, 2011

The 99 percent may still be struggling, but luxury spending is up, according to the Boston Globe, which reported that some retailers are even reporting that business is booming at prerecession levels.

"The high-end customer is spending again. As the markets have come back, people are feeling much better about their own situation,'' Stephen Sadove, chief executive of Saks Inc, said in the story. "Some of our best sellers are the most expensive items - the exotic handbags, the high-end diamonds.''

This behavior is a major turnaround from the depths of the recession when annual revenues in the luxury sector fell by double digits. Last month, Saks reported some of the strongest gains by all retailers - sales at shops open at least a year soared 9.3 percent compared with the same period last year. Sales at upscale department store chain Nordstrom, which mostly shunned Black Friday price discounts, rose 5.6 percent.

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