January 15, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
2:31 PM (Pacific)
Economists speak of the "lipstick index" (i.e., the number of women buying lipstick) as a key economic indicator. OK, that's not true, I saw it once on the tv news...but it's good.
I rather prefer the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale as an indicator of economic optimism or pessimism.
The last time I attended one of these, before this year, was at least six years ago. I buy in bulk; I don't mind shopping as a necessity but I loathe it as a pastime.
That time, I hit at least four Victoria's Secret stores. I recall the San Francisco Embarcadero one the best; there was no one at the sale bins placed in front of the store. No one. I shopped, grabbing as many of the right sized Miracle Bras that I could find (they were ten dollars apiece back then), went to the register...and got a look from the saleswoman that I cherished. The look said, "What? You are buying only from the bins?" The reason I cherished this look was that I figured, people who buy only from the bins would find that look discouraging. Hence, there would be more and better merchandise inside the bins at that VS store.
Well as I say that was six years or more ago.
This year, was halfway through the "W" era...and I needed to replenish some of my bra stock. I returned first to that same Embarcadero store...and it was mobbed. Everyone was standing at the front of the store, rifling the bins...my bins...no one browsed anywhere else.
Of course, the usual San Francisco politeness. No pushing. No shoving. No grabbing. No one even delved into the same bins. The women travelled in neat clockwise circles around the round display tables, perusing each bin in turn. Lots of merchandise, but nothing like the ten-dollar Miracle bras. In fact, closer inspection revealed that many of the bras were now made in China; none of the ones I bought six years ago was.
The trying-on queue...was almost as bad as registration day at City College. The register line was as bad as registration day at City College. I almost expected to see someone pay someone else to stand in that line.
So what does it all mean? The Embarcadero is not the pinnacle of rich tourist shopping. It is rather the haunt of downtown career people. People who could be expected to have a tight grasp on the future direction of the economy.
I suppose I'll be able to track this indicator another five or six years from now...when, I hope, there will yet again be no one but me hanging around those Embarcadero VS bins.
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