Sign of the Times: "Connecticut’s ‘Rodeo Drive’ Abandoned as Hedge Funds Collapse"

[Mike 03]

A harbinger of things to come?

I know, I know; you are probably thinking the same thing I am: Oh, shed a tear for these hedge fund investors and their wives/husbands and families. (Yes, that is a bit of sarcasm, I admit.)

But a lot of the retailers listed in this story are the same retailers we had in our local malls in Los Angeles and down in Phoenix. If it is hurting retailers on Grenwich Avenue, you can imagine how the retailers in Aradia, CA, etc..., are doing.

Besides, I'm really shocked that hedge funders shop at the Gap. Why not Hugo Boss, Armani or Kenneth Cole?




EXCERPT:

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Finding a parking spot for your Mercedes or BMW on Greenwich Avenue, the main shopping strip of the U.S. hedge-fund capital, used to be a challenge. Not anymore.

With the recession hammering retail sales, empty curbside spaces abound along the suburban Connecticut thoroughfare, known as the Rodeo Drive of the northeast, and “For Rent” signs decorate vacant storefronts. Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Borders have all closed their Greenwich Avenue locations.

As banks and hedge funds cut jobs or close down in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, Greenwich merchants are suffering sales declines. Some stores are simply packing it in. Many are renegotiating rents, cutting inventory or offering cheaper products.

“We never used to have one day with no sales,” said May Lai Ku, the manager of Cochni, a woman’s clothing store on the avenue. “Now that happens three to four times a month.”

Ku, 46, said her store had about $40,000 in sales in January 2008. This year, it will take about three months to make the same amount, with almost everything in the store discounted as much as 80 percent, she said.

Hedge funds may cut 20,000 workers worldwide this year, a record 14 percent of the industry’s jobs, as investment losses and client withdrawals erode fees, according to estimates by New York-based Options Group, an executive-search firm.

Greenwich, a town of about 62,000 located around an hour’s drive northeast of Manhattan, is home to more than 100 hedge funds.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arOzIUvhbr1o&refer=home

MUCH MORE AT LINK

[leftchick]

1. not to worry for our vampire friends....

“The hedge fund people that lost $200 million still have $200 million,” said Adam Zeiberg, a real estate broker with FirstService Williams who leases retail space on Greenwich Avenue. “They have tremendous amounts of money.”

[terisan]

2. They will be the ones buying up the assets under the Geithner plan. I bet they never even say

thank you to us.

[SoCalDem]

3. exactly.. why waste money on clothes & baubles.. they're saving it for

the big real-estate bargains about to drop into their laps.. well connected people will be picking up places for pennies on the dollar:puke:

[krispos42]

4. As soon as I saw the subject line I though "Greenwich"

And I was right. Thar's some rich fuckers over there, yes indeed. As close to NY as you can get without actually BEING in New York.