Rich spend as everyone else scrimps<br><br>NEW YORK High gas prices are driving a wider wedge between the wealthy and everybody else.<br><br>The rich are back to jordan 11 low for sale prerecession splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes and they're paying full price.<br><br>At Target and WalMart, shoppers are concentrating on groceries and skipping even little luxuries. BJ's Wholesale Corp. said its customers are buying more hamburger and chicken and less steak and buying smaller packs to save money. "The average shopper isn't in jordan 8 playoffs for sale the game, except for necessities," said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and marketing at Prudential Douglas Elliman. Penney, WalMart and homeimprovement retailer Lowe's said they're noticing their customers are consolidating shopping trips to save money on gas as the average price hovers near $4 a gallon. More than a halfdozen corporate earnings reports this week show that, for the affluent, rising prices are merely a nuisance. For others, they can mean scrimping to put food on the table.<br><br>The wealthy were the first to start spending again after the recession. Middleclass Americans' spending started picking up late last year. But the retail earnings results show that rising prices for gas and food, particularly meat, dairy and produce, have started to erode spending power.<br><br>It could get worse later this year, when clothing prices are expected to rise 10 percent to 15 percent. Meat prices are expected to rise 6 to 7 percent this year and dairy products as much as 5.5 percent, cement 3s said USDA estimates.<br><br>The bottom fifth of earners, with a median household income of $9,846, spend 35.6 percent of their income on food and 9.4 percent on gas, according to Citi Investment Research.<br><br>The top fifth, whose median household income is $157,631, spend only 6.8 percent on food and 1.9 percent on gas. So they feel price increases less. economy is showing some signs of improvement, we expect the recovery will continue to be slow and uneven, particularly for more moderateincome households," Gregg Steinhafel, Target's chairman, president and CEO, told analysts Wednesday.<br><br>The divide is prompting retailers to alter their strategies: Such luxury stores as Saks Fifth Avenue, which had added more items, from shirts to suits, at lower prices after the financial meltdown in late 2008, are again rebalancing their assortments. Now, it's back to the $300plus dress shirts.<br><br>"We are increasingly optimistic about the future," Saks CEO Stephen Sadove said Tuesday after reporting a 9 percent firstquarter revenue increase.<br><br>At the other end of the spectrum, WalMart and others under more pressure to get their financially squeezed shoppers to spend are offering more discounts and pushing smaller packages at the end of the month when shoppers have less money.<br><br>Target, whose shoppers' median household income is $60,000, said it's the betteroff customers who are driving its revenue growth. The rest of its customers are focusing on necessities like food, resulting in some sales declines in the rest of the store.<br><br>WalMart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer and a barometer of the financial health of consumers, has noticed rising gas prices adding financial strain for its lowincome customers. WalMart shoppers' median income is $42,000 to $45,000, estimates Craig Johnson, president of retail consultant Customer Growth Partners.<br><br>CEO Mike Duke said last month that WalMart is seeing more pronounced drops in buying in the few days before the end of the month when money is tight and then a big spike in spending during the first few days of the month when many shoppers get paychecks or government assistance. The company had already been adding more small packages at the end of the month to appeal to budgetconstrained shoppers and now plans to push smaller packages even more.
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