Wiser, cautious luxury retail buyers are back in the game
(I’d rather watch this story for a while longer, than actually act on it… bc)
High-end retailers Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus are reporting stronger sales. At the Ed Morse car lot in Brandon, Cadillac sales in April nearly tripled from a year ago, while its sister dealership in Tampa is having a run on the high-end SRX SUVs.
And Jackie Colson-Miller, a South Tampa real estate agent dealing in luxury properties, has trouble finding enough houses in the $1.2 million and up range to satisfy deep-pocketed, out-of-town buyers.
The luxury buyer is coming back.
Perhaps wiser, decidedly pickier and more practical. But back in the game, nonetheless.
And with the combination of plenty of disposable income and plenty of bargains, the wealthy are best positioned to lead any nascent recovery of consumer spending. Last week, retailers reported tepid sales for May, up less than 3 percent, with luxury spending one of the few bright spots.
Luxury sales, in fact, grew more than three times faster last month than overall retail sales, according to a report from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse.
In their annual survey of affluence and wealth in the United States, American Express Publishing and Harrison Group predicted the first comeback year in three years in retail spending. That infusion, it predicts, will be confined to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans. “The remaining 90 percent of the population will spend either the same — or less — than they have been spending since the Great Recession began in 2007,” the survey found.
via Wiser, cautious luxury retail buyers are back in the game – St. Petersburg Times.