Thread: Noone Seems to be Buying Anything

I went out to the various, nice and top shops here in Milan today but noone seems to be shopping at all. The roads also are rather quiet and the shops had nobody inside.
I had lunch at the Giorgio Armani's Coffee Shop but not many people were there. Two, three years ago used to be packed whenever I came with friends.
It's rather sunny today although it varies with cloudiness. A not so nice June we have here comparing to what June should be normally.

How is it in Bali? Or wherever you are in your city? Is the spending power still going strong?

Let's have a look -

Today - Me (rounded)

- Cappucino and a quiche from Cafe Moka - Rp 39,000

- Lunch at the Peninsula - Rp 238,000

- Food and drink at the Conrad - Rp 122,000

- Diet **** in front of Matahari Hotel, Benoa Rp 7,000

- Valet tip at Conrad - Rp 20,000

- Premium from Pertamina - Rp 100,000

- Nothing at Hardy's - they were out of imported full cream milk

- Macdonalds for the kids and the maid - Rp 58,000

- Bruschetta (very poor) and Diet **** at Rama Garden in Legian - Rp 48.000

- Airport parking Rp 2,000


So that's about Rp 635,000 - just under $70 USD. That would probably get you 2 coffees in Milan!! (No cream).. So yes, I expect people over there are probably cutting back. The PPP in Italy is just completely out of whack! Most of western europe for that matter.. What's Trichet's move? "Let's make money more expensive!".. What a tosspot.. I'm liking Bernanke more than Trichet these days..

Ct

Hmm...I enjoy reading that, Balilife. What a nice life you have over in Surabaya going to all those places. You have to belong to the creme de la creme of society to be hopping around like you did/do today, here in Italy. For this I love Asia. Life is large. And yes, I love Kualalumpur too.
Okay, that's quite a lot you spent in a day comparing to me. But with kids, petrol and all, it's understandable.
But your lunch cost more or less the same as mine, yet I only had club sandwich (which is not the custom to find this in Italy unless you stay at a 5-star Hotel as it is not common for Hotels here to open to outsiders except for staying-guests) and so only GA's coffee shop has it. And a small bottle of water. Altogether I paid E 15.00.
Didn't spend on anything after that and I felt proud going home.

Bush is leaving so Bernanke won't be there for long either. Oh well...

:-)

Ahhh, please don't misunderstand me Milan.. Firstly, I'm in Bali this week - on holiday, so we're at those places because of that. The meal at the Peninsula included 4 (believe it or not) main courses, (great food) - but it's not endless fine dining..

In Surabaya, on an average day we wouldn't spend that much, even though most of our meals are eaten out (except breakfast), we don't sit in hotels day after day and eat..

A typical weekday for me in Surabaya would be..

1100 - coffee at gloria jeans after dropping son at school (Rp 24,500)

*** every second day I put about Rp 100,000 fuel in. We get screwed on fuel there because we need to use pertamax on our surabaya car.. (pertamax is about 50% more expensive than premium, so theoretically the same value of premium would last about an extra day).. So an average of Rp 50,000 / day.

1330 - I go and eat lunch (sometimes with, sometimes without my wife) - average Rp 50,000

1400 - 2nd coffee from GJ's, (Rp 24,500)

1430 - grocery shopping at Ranch market - usually mainly milk - our 2 kids finish 2 litres of milk every day here and we only buy imported aussie / nz milk (have been told indo milk can upset kids stomachs) - we buy Devondale (used to be Pura, but we've switched now) for about 17,000 / liter.. So 2 of those (we usually buy 15 at a time to get us through the week but I'm averaging it out - and I do go to ranch everyday for other bits and pieces) plus some other tidbits, including Diet ****, Bintang (for my pal), and snacks would average Rp 80,000 / day.

1500 - buy some terrible looking processed cheese bread from breadtalk for my father in law, that he loves. He can't help it - he's asian, so that seems to go hand in hand with having bad taste in bread and cheese. (Rp 7,000)

1600 - go home, but I usually stop by the warung closeby to buy a single Gudang Garam.. Not brave to buy the whole pack coz I don't want the temptation there 24/7. (Rp 1,000)

** oh yes, various parking, mall parking etc - Rp 10,000 / day

1900 - go and eat, usually with my wife (sometimes the kids too). Could be anywhere from Rp 80,000 to 150,000.

** Most nights (after kids are asleep) I go with a friend for drinks at a cafe closeby.. We alternate on the bill which is usually 150,000 - so that averages out to just under Rp 40,000 / day..

The above is by no means a cost of living analysis as it excludes many fixed costs.. Just a look at what I see going out of my wallet daily..

So that comes in around the Rp 380,000 to the 450,000 - very rough averaging in Surabaya..

Ct

Hello BaliLife,, one flat white $4.10c

silly salad $12.50

Parking in Subiaco for 3 hours $9.60c.

Milan,, from my observation, people are cutting down spending in Oz too.

I think it has to do with interest rates rising, (mortgages repayments)
also petrol prices and now, alcohol has increased too. The government putting higher price on alcohol in order to slow down "young people binge drinking campagn".

IMO, Perth is good for this, making rules and forcing adults to prefer to stay indoors than go out for an evening.

If you dont have a meal you cannot have a drink, if you have a drink (approx $9.50 for a glass of wine) you cannot have a cigarette. Then you cannot drive home anyway because of the strict drink driving laws. (which i do not condemn, however tends to get on my nerves ending an evening with a booze bus test.)

Why responsible adults have to be treated like naughty little boys and girls :roll:

So, i , no aperitiv at the bar.

BaliLife, do you remember when Perth Number plates had
'W.A. state of excitement" written on them ?

Hi chilli..

I don't remember those number plates.. If I could choose, I'd be in perth over surabaya any day of the week and twice on sundays :)

But yes, everything in perth has gone up in price a heck of a lot. I was there all of april, and we noticed how you're hard pressed to get the most casual of snacks for under $8.. A big change from when I was a kid and we used to pay $1 for a pie.. A cheap one is now $3.80..

Ct

Ok I am in Brisbane and this morning went to the local large shopping centre. Shoppers were clearly down. Shops empty and there were sales on everywhere. Coffee shops about a quarter of normal customers.

For me today

Coffee Latte large $4.80
Banana Bread $4.20
Book on sale reduced from $65.00 to $15.00

I also agree and think it has to do with interest rates rising, (mortgage repayments) petrol prices, rates (our city council rates) rising, water costs rising, electricity rising and food costs rising. Everything is going up up up.

Yes Bert, that could be it! Can't hold down a meal after the defeat..

Ct