For Wealthy, It's Cool to Be Cheap

Affluent Americans are folding up the Gucci sunglasses and trying green living's thriftier practices on for size, a response to environmental and economic concerns that's sure to dampen spending for the duration of the recession, the Wall Street Journal reports. "People aren't shopping to feel better," said one retail consultant. "They actually are not shopping to feel better."

A survey of wealthy consumers in October found that more than half of the respondents had shopped less frequently in the last year—and a former Barneys exec predicts things are going to get worse. A shifting consumer psychology means "it's no longer chic to be spending," indicating tough times ahead for a luxury market that's bound to be "the slowest to recover."
(More financial crisis stories.)