Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - February 2009 - (Page 42)

Greenwich Chef Jean-Louis Gerin, owner of the popular Restaurant JeanLouis, says more customers are asking for comfort food. Brooks Brothers, Lacoste, Lily Pulitzer, Marc Jacobs, Saks Fifth Avenue and Tiffany. Richard’s, a locally owned store, stocks Hermès and Prada. Shopping is an important pastime in Greenwich, but business is slow these days. “We have a lot of people in Greenwich who still have the funds to spend,” notes Mary Ann Morrison, president and CEO of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. “They are feeling, ‘You know what, I shouldn’t spend it because I don’t know what’s coming.’” Greenwich car dealerships — which cater to the luxury market — are overstocked with Mercedeses, BMWs and Lexuses. Among potential buyers who can afford, say, a $132,500 Aston Martin Vantage V8 Roadster or a $425,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom, few are taking the 42 • INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR’S ALPHA • FEBRUARY 2009 plunge, says Patrizio Torregiani, Internet sales manager at New Country Porsche, where sticker prices start at $50,960. “There’s less big money and hedge fund manager types coming in and ordering a very expensive Porsche,” adds Torregiani, who says he sold eight cars nonetheless in December. Restaurants are also feeling the pinch. L’escale, a popular dining spot at the Delamar — a Miami Beach–style waterfront hotel that lists its Belvedere Presidential Suite at $1,700 per night — recently rolled out a new line of cocktails based on the seven virtues and inspired by hard times. Anshu Vidyarthi, the restaurant’s managing partner, says the best-selling of the seven virtues is Faith, a concoction of lychee purée, raspberry liqueur and vodka. L’escale is also offering one third off its winelist prices on Monday nights. Jean-Louis Gerin, the owner-chef of Restaurant JeanLouis, who has lived and worked in Greenwich for 25 years, says he began tweaking his menu a year ago when he saw what was coming. Front and center at his place now is French comfort food — sautéed ﬁlet mignon, for instance, with “my grandmother’s potatoes au gratin” — always a favorite with patrons when times get tough, he says, though “tough” often depends on one’s point of view (Gerin’s Web site prices the ﬁlet-and-potato entrée at $40). The new menu has by-the-glass wine pairings so diners don’t have to buy a whole bottle. “They’re buying the less-expensive bottle, especially if it’s a corporate account,” Gerin says. “They want to go back to the ofﬁce and make sure everybody understands that they too are concerned about the company.” Much of the change, he says, is rooted more in selfconsciousness than in distress: “It’s not a question of change of wealth. I think it’s a question of being more careful and just not wanting to be seen as being excessive.” At Consigned Couture, on the other hand, business is brisk, and here — especially for the precariously well-todo — is a snapshot of the fragility of some wealth. Dolly Ledingham-Savage, the shop owner, presides over a full stock of major-label everything. A fur coat that retailed for $120,000 is priced at $14,000; a $7,000 Chanel black velvet evening suit is $950. Ledingham-Savage says she accepts major labels only. What’s keeping her busy these days is buying. “I’ve had four months of being booked solid with consignments,” she says. “This year is the bestquality merchandise I’ve ever had.” Surely, selling the family jewels is a blow to those who have jewels to sell, just the sort of possibility that can keep one up at night. Pity the sleepless rich — something is rotten in Greenwich. All things being relative, however, this once-brisk center of all things hedge fund will no doubt remain the wealthy and privileged enclave it always has been. Most struggling managers will survive another day to perhaps build another mansion and buy another Maserati. There’s still lots of money in town.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - February 2009

Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - February 2009 Contents Letter From the Editor Longs & Shorts Digging Out A Call to Mentor Dicey Detroit The Constant Skeptic Cover Story: The Undaunted What Were They Thinking? Dark Days in Greenwich True Stories from the Commodities Files Return of the Native The Quest for Cover Moving On from Madoff

Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - February 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.