On Istliklal Avenue, in Beyoglu district in central Istanbul, at street corners normally reserved for upper-class shoppers in winter chic, riot police stood huffing into their hands to chase away the cold, waiting for violence that never came.
Then in the 50s came aperiod of slum clearances and redevelopment, until today's reincarnation as one of Boston's main restaurant districts with "a growing retail presence, much of it aimed primarily at upper-middle class shoppers".
Upper-middle class shoppers who were once embarrassed to be caught in these stores are now bragging about how much money they saved.
Similar strategies helped fatten revenue for Tiffany, Gucci, and LVMH, all of which have expanded their product lines to attract upper middle-class shoppers -- those that have fared so well in today's economy.
Every successful step that Target takes -- signing designers to make baby bottles and little black dresses, moving deeper into the grocery business, persuading more and more upper-middle-class shoppers to become upper-middle-class bargain hunters -- brings it into closer confrontation with the $218 billion behemoth that is Wal-Mart.
As Sheree, one of the show's five power shoppers (all but one of whom are black), put it last season, "I was upper-middle class growing up, but I left that behind for upper class".
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class.
Her people are upper middle class or, sometimes, upper class.
"We only serve the upper class.
The new upper class is different.
"The upper class is not affected.
