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fxh

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Originally Posted by Prince of Paisley
Sydney currently has the world's second most expensive prime retail rents behind NYC. This, however, is more a reflection on the fact Sydney has about 200m worth of "prime" shopping strip (Pitt St Mall), whereas most other cities have much longer strips and hence more supply drives the price down relative to Sydney, where supply is lagging way behind demand in the prime category. Also, "Australia's conservative business dress retail markets are very concentrated and retailers can generate more turnover per square metre, which provides an offset to higher rents" - so in effect the higher rents should not necessarily translate into higher prices for the customer.

Also, the rankings are based on US dollar values, so at the moment Australia seems "overpriced" by world standards (Brisbane ranked ninth, Melb 10th in the world for cost of prime retail space - ahead of LA, Singapore and most European cities). For an Australian company, the rise in rental costs in $A would be less than it has been when measured in USD over the past 24 months.

All this aside, the headline-grabbing data only talks about what is globally defined as "prime" retail space - the best you can get on an international scale (for Syd, Pitt St mall; for NYC, 5th Avenue, etc.) This type of space is unlikely to be occupied by Australian retailers, more likely by Gucci or Zara etc. "Street" Shop rents are much more competitive in Sydney and have been going nowhere in the last 12 months; e.g. HK "street" shop rents are well over twice as expensive as Sydney....

In sum, I'm not sure higher rents is really an excuse for such huge markups on clothing as we see in Australia, and wages in retail here would be higher than the US, but my feeling is Europe would be as expensive in terms of the minimum wage for these types of workers.


Its not just clothes.

Whilst Australia has a relatively small population compared to say USA/UK or even California, what we do have is great concentrations of population - that is - on the east coast at least - Melbourne Sydney, Brisbane and even (Newcastle, Bendigo, Ballarat etc) have larger populations than many major cities through out the world.

Plus our economy is one of the healthier ones in the world.
 

Journeyman

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Originally Posted by Charlie's Wardrobe
Peeps, Herringbone sale is up online already. Just picked up this badboy -

http://shop.herringbone.com/ProductD...rringbone/1510

Not many left and no suits online unfortunately.



That is a great jacket - if I didn't already have the very similar one they did a few seasons ago, I'd pick that one up on sale without hesitation.
 

jas0nt

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Was checking out suits yesterday at MJ Bale. They have a 20% off at the moment, so for $850 or so you could get a fully canvassed super-130 suit. Should I try see if they can chuck in free alterations or a shirt, or is $850 a good enough price?
 

jessis

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Originally Posted by jas0nt
Was checking out suits yesterday at MJ Bale. They have a 20% off at the moment, so for $850 or so you could get a fully canvassed super-130 suit. Should I try see if they can chuck in free alterations or a shirt, or is $850 a good enough price?
It is a pretty good price for the quality and fit - you might be able to swindle a discount on the alterations but not a shirt! No harm in asking!
 

Prince of Paisley

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Originally Posted by TheWraith
Many Americans tend to tip 10% of the cost, but naturally it varies from person to person. If you don't tip, you either get lousy service or no service at all (even if the latter is supposed to not happen, it does). But yes, without the tips, many American workers wouldn't be able to get by as the wages are often too low there.
This is a generalisation. The level of tips depends on the service being offered, and I say "service" because you generally don't tip at a high street fashion store. It's bars, restaurants, cabs, sky captains etc. where tipping is expected.

Also, I'd say 10% is what an Australian in the US would tip - by American standards I've found 10% is very mean.
 

Prince of Paisley

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Originally Posted by TheWraith
Originally Posted by Prince of Paisley
The US minimum wage was increased for something like the first time since Clinton's first term only a year or two ago.....
Yep.



Yep, but it's still a paltry figure.


That was my point - the minimum wage is revised so rarely in the US, compared to here where the unions push for rises (and usually get them) every year or two.
 

lennier

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Originally Posted by Prince of Paisley
This is a generalisation. The level of tips depends on the service being offered, and I say "service" because you generally don't tip at a high street fashion store. It's bars, restaurants, cabs, sky captains etc. where tipping is expected.

Also, I'd say 10% is what an Australian in the US would tip - by American standards I've found 10% is very mean.

I was once verbally abused by a waiter in an up-market Philadelphia restaurant for only tipping "10.25%", back when I didn't know better. I was impressed he'd worked it out to two decimal places. If I'd been inclined to make a scene in front of business colleagues his tip would have reduced to zero, but as it was I bumped it up to something acceptable. A minimum of 15-20% seems to be the go these days unless you are dissatisfied with the service.
 

Prince of Paisley

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Originally Posted by lennier
I was once verbally abused by a waiter in an up-market Philadelphia restaurant for only tipping "10.25%", back when I didn't know better. I was impressed he'd worked it out to two decimal places. If I'd been inclined to make a scene in front of business colleagues his tip would have reduced to zero, but as it was I bumped it up to something acceptable. A minimum of 15-20% seems to be the go these days unless you are dissatisfied with the service.
I'm not for a low minimum wage, but when tips are how you make your living, there is much more incentive to go the extra mile when serving customers. I think this is one major reason why service is so much better in the States than here. Service staff take too much for granted in Australia.

(And I don't mean to sound condescending to people in those industries - I used to be one).
 

appolyon

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Re: minimum wage and tips, and I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread, doesn't the American tax department assume that these workers make 15% in tips (i.e. add it on to their wages for tax purposes)? So by not leaving at least 15% you are actually taking money away from them.
 

appolyon

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Picked up a navy patch pocket blazer from Herringbone for $199 today ... some great reductions in store today, especially if you're a 40 or 42. Had to restrain myself from buying another suit. This was at the Collins St store near Louis Vuitton (which is closing down and moving everything).

At their store at the top end of Collins, they have a great range of C&Js to lust over (not on sale unfortunately).
 
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