How fancy are your pants? How do you feel about high-end boutique shopping?

"some consternation among you over the appropriateness of these kinds of stores in Seattle"

This is not surprising, and this is one of the mindsets of some Seattleites that really pisses me off. Seattle is a world class, cosmopolitan city, with a lot of wealthy people, and some not so wealthy people who actually like having these stores here! There is nothing wrong with that! If you like grunge, granola, etc, that's perfectly fine, but please don't complain about high end retailers in the fine city of Seattle. It just shows that Seattle is a big city, and very diverse. Gucci just opened downtown, Louis Vuitton is doing very well, Barney's New York has been here for a long time. Of course there is room for them in Seattle.

God forbid any of you make it over to Bellevue, you might just have a heart attack!

This is the new and improved NWSource - great for the rich to hell with the rest.

There is something very cool about Jack Straw Filaments. Even knowing that I'll not be able to afford to actually buy anything I still enjoy the ambience, the friendliness and the terrific clothes. One can dream.

Visitor 12/28 (re: "great for the rich"),

NWsource will strive to cover the breadth of the shopping experience in Seattle, from the high-end stores to the places where you can find good values, deals and a meaningful shopping experience. We want to help readers focus on what's important to them when they spend their shopping dollar, whether that means splurging on an expensive item or finding that small, but special or useful item made by a local designer or carried by a locally owned boutique.

We also want to create a dialog about shopping in Seattle, particularly in this blog, Minding the Store. That's what this post is meant to do.

As a counterpoint to this piece about high-end stores, you might want to look at this week's story about after-Christmas sales where you can make the most of your dollar if you are looking to buy the items mentioned.

"This is the new and improved NWSource - great for the rich to hell with the rest."

Well it'd be pretty damn boring to write about shopping options for poor people.

I, for one, appreciate the very up-to-date coverage provided by NWSource and find it to be straight forward, not only skewed to those with deep pockets. I may not be able to afford the higher-end stores featured in the brief and informative pieces, but I still like knowing that they exist, along with other interesting small businesses in Seattle.

I'm continually amazed at how the writing staff is so tuned in to what's new, and not only in the realm of the über hip, too. I particularly enjoy Alison Brownrigg's view as it is that of a regular woman shopper (30-something young mother), not a snotty rich b- with superior taste and a bigger budget than the rest of us.

Keep up the great work,

lala

I love reading the stories about boutiques in the city. These smaller stores cater to a specific demographic and I think they are doing a great job! I'm sick of department store shopping anyway.

I've only been in Seattle for six months. I live in Ballard. I shop at expensive boutiques. What does that make me? On paper, one of the invading yuppie scum I hear about on all the Ballard blogs. In reality, a freelance writer who fell in love with the area and am fixing up the house i bought (not a condo!) There are lots of people who live in Seattle, not just the grunge-leftovers who like to complain on blogs. And I'm sick of hearing how awful Bellevue is--a city is made up of diverse neighborhoods, and several gems in both shopping and dining exist outside of Bellevue Square Mall. And just because the media tells us that the economy is in the tank doesn't mean there are plenty of people out there who still want to shop or at least want to splurge every now and then. What I really don't get is why all these so-called high-end boutiques all carry BCBG. Seriously, the uber-club out-dated BCBG line can be found in any mall in the world, but it's better when it's overpriced in a local boutique I suppose.

visitor 1/7/09 Bellevue is not part of Seattle. it is a separate city entirely.

Are you yuppie scum? Probably. If you can afford a house in Seattle and you have an opinion about BCBG you ain't workin' class. And judging by your comment, ya ain't much of a writer either.

So you bought a house-not a condo. That proves you are not yuppie scum? Well some of my best friends are yuppie scum and they own houses too.

And I'm sick of hearing about what you yuppie scum are sick of hearing about.

I hope NW Source does keep writing about the fancy boutiques so that they stay in business and the yuppies keep buying new stuff and donating their "outdated" stuff to Goodwill, where I can buy it cheap. In fact, if NW Source could encourage closet cleanouts, that'd be great.

I see a lot of upscale boutiques opening up and NWSource giving them a chance. Great. Here's my problem. A lot of them close up and have huge running sales with slashes of 75% off and Clearance sales. What's bad about that? Great for the customer but there's NO way that business model is going to keep them afloat or last. Our current economic situation will shut down a lot business who are just hanging on. I'm sick of reading stupid reviews and comments about how they love these expensive boutiques and their "ambience" but can never afford anything there or will wait for clearance sales. How is that good for business if I'm the owner?

Splurging on $500 pair of pants made in Japan is good because you're supporting the Japanese market? Allowing the business owner to take trips to Japan to do the buying and write it off? Whatever.

You know what I want to see. A smart boutique that offers great fashion pieces that is affordable to everyone. IMHO, $300 pair of jeans is not a status symbol, it's plain stupid.

Oh, I do live in Bellevue and work in Seattle. I shop in malls, boutiques, and Target. I'm not a yuppie or scum. And I' smart enough to know that a $1800 leather jacket from a Ballard boutique is not an "investment".