Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrus
Yes it absolutely does. Because the rate of demand affects the availability of supply. If everyone in Manhattan is buying Diesel, that means the market for Levi's lacks the critical mass for stores to carry Levi's. In turn, that results in people who might be willing to wear either buying more Diesel, because that's what's available. Even if there's enough demand for Levi's to find them when you want them, casual shoppers end up spending more on average. I have no idea if the jeans example is specifically true in NY or not, but it's an example of how luxury tastes can drive up average costs for an entire area, even among non-luxury buyers.
A better example might be groceries. The cost of food in my gentrifying neighborhood in DC is actively rising, because the cheapo indie grocery stores that used to supply the ghetto are all closing, and Whole Foods is moving in. You can still trek out to a cheap Aldi if you want, but if you're just walking down the sidewalk and you want to buy a loaf of bread, you are absolutely paying more to do it today than you were a couple of years ago.
It doesn't matter. Tourists willing to pay anything are part of why NY's cost of living is high. If the prices are driven up, they're driven up.
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I really don't think it works that way. Everything is "available" in NYC. The one area where you might have a point is food, which I already mentioned.
Although in your example, that's not like for like either... Whole Foods is more expensive, but is generally a higher quality product. Not all loaves of bread are created equal. In fact I actually compared when I lived in Manhattan, and Whole Foods was cheaper than Food Emporium on a like for like basis (comparing the exact same items), by a significant margin, probably due to being influenced by national pricing.
You can avoid paying a tourist markup for anything else by not being an idiot.