The supply and demand of luxury

Two Princeton juniors paused to survey Palmer Square, shopping bags in hand. One couldn't help but ask, "When did things get so expensive?"

The comment is a fair one. The number of relatively high-end stores does seem to be on the rise in Princeton, as does the average price of goods for sale. Zoë, which opened in 1995, preempted this trend (here, a Blumarine cardigan runs $1770 and this season's popular Jimmy Choo leather boots are $830); other stores followed later, such as Smith Brothers (now closed) in 2002, Rouge and Honey West in 2004 and Ralph Lauren in 2005. A Kate Spade store is coming soon to the same space on Hulfish Street that once housed Zoë.

Food seems to be following this luxury trend as well. The Ferry House, which originally opened in Lambertville in 1992, moved to Princeton in 1998. Mezzaluna followed in late 2001 (entrees range from $25 to 28). New favorite Bent Spoon opened in the summer of 2004, and the old standby Halo Pub countered with Halo Fete, which sells high-end gourmet ice cream items, in spring 2005.

What is motivating this move toward luxury? For a college town, Princeton seems unusually geared toward high-end goods.

These changes are indicative of a larger trend. Many companies, including J.Crew, which has a store in Palmer Square, have noticed a desire for quality rather than quantity and have adjusted their marketing and manufacturing strategies accordingly.

J. Crew has been trying to remarket itself as upscale since mid-1994. The company banned clothing items printed with the company name on the outside in the belief that people were tired of being walking advertisements. Details like linings, trims and high-quality buttons were emphasized instead. J. Crew also changed manufacturers, and their clothing is now made in some of the same factories as Coach, Prada and Oscar de la Renta.

Higher quality, of course, ultimately means higher prices. And higher prices, which generally dissuade shoppers, seem to have become in some way a motivating factor.

Take Design Within Reach, which opened on Nassau Street toward the end of spring 2005. According to the Princeton Business Journal of April 19, 2005, the store was attracted to the area by the high number of catalogue purchases from Princeton zip codes. The company sends out a weekly web-based newsletter featuring a relatively innocuous-sounding phrase in its upper right-hand corner: "Exclusive Products, Modern Design, In Stock and Ready to Ship." The main selling point is somewhat of a contradiction: the idea that these products are "exclusive" — not just anyone can have one — and the affirmation that these products are "within reach," which means that you can have one.

Paying $2,898 for the Leggero Six Drawer Dresser or $6,850 for the Eames La Chaise gives you a piece of designer furniture that would have been unaffordable or difficult to find otherwise. More importantly, it gives you membership in a luxury club where culture and style are at a premium. You are indeed paying for the pleasure, but paying becomes part of the pleasure.

Surely, students are not the primary target for this store. No matter how wealthy the student, a dorm room is not a place for collector's items. But students are residents of this town too, and thus they are affected by the shopping standards of the more permanent residents of Princeton. And these residents seem to be raising the bar.

There are undoubtedly a number of factors in the recent trend toward luxury marketing. The economy is picking up again. Perhaps people are less focused on the war in Iraq. Or perhaps they are looking for ways to distract themselves from the number of recent natural disasters in the world.

Whatever the reason, luxury items are definitely on the rise in Princeton. Palmer Square Fashion Week, sponsored by Princeton Porsche, Princeton BMW and Princeton Mini, took place Oct. 4 through 8. According to Palmer Square's website, the event was intended to bring "the NY Runway to the Heart of Cosmopolitan Downtown Princeton." The week featured fashion shows and unveilings of new collections, all conducted by a number of stores in town.

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Princeton is no New York City, so why is it aspiring to be Madison Avenue? As one student said, the appeal is the fantasy — the element of the undeserved, the ideal, the excessive and unfamiliar. As one junior said, "I want to be sold something beyond the dress. I want a little bit of fantasy, and the more money I spend, the bigger the fantasy is."