Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Ultra Rich Become Covert Shoppers To Hide Thier High End Purchases

While thousands of folks are looking at their unemployment checks and wondering how long they will hold out, some people are still making forays into high end boutiques for pricey goodies. Take Mrs. Fuld, wife of Lehman Brothers C.E.O. Dick Fuld. She was seen buying a few nick knacks at Hermès boutique on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue.

Mrs Fuld is a regular customer, dropping between $5000, and $10,000 a week at the store, but this holiday season she want's to be a bit lower profile. Not to save money, but just to keep from looking pretentious. Rather than taking the stores signature orange bad with the Hermès logo, she opts for a plain white bag. Like a person stealthily smuggling porno from an adult books store, Mrs, Fuld wants her obscene purchases to be a secret.

She is not alone. According to a report in the Daily Beast, lots of well healed shoppers are opting for plain brown wrappers. Stores like Tiffany's and Bergdorf Goodman are seeing more and more high-end customers asking for plain bags. Why? Some suspect it is guilt. Must be tough.

Speaking of Lehman Brothers, aren't they the ones that are in bankruptcy? Guess that little financial debaucle isn't affecting the top level management if their wives are still burning money on $2500 cashmier throws and baubles?

Wouldn't it be nice if instead of dropping that "10 large" a week at Hermès Mrs. Fuld took half of that and gave it to a charity each week? I have nothing against Hermès, I just hate seeing places like NPR shedding employees and charities running short of food for the winter months. But hey, Christmas is for buying right?

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