There’s an article in the Denver Post this morning about the opening of the Hermès store in Cherry Creek North. The store is across the street from Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue in a new high end mixed use development (condos and retail). Hermès is now the crown jewel in the Cherry Creek shopping district. I’m sure that the planning for this store was well underway before the recession hit. It’s a good thing that the store is in close proximity to the Country Club neighborhood where housing prices actual rose last year (prices in our neighborhood dropped 5% last year). The Hermès store is donating a percentage of sales from the opening weekend to the Denver Art Museum.
The Hermès story was contrasted in the Post by an article about a woman who posted a garage sale notice on Craig’s list offering the contents of her house. The woman sold everything. The house has been stripped down to the drywall. The only problem is that the house was in foreclosure. The woman claims she has done nothing wrong because she owned all the items. The bank is now considering its legal options. There’s a good chance that this woman will end up in jail.
The articles show a wide contrast of events that are happening in the Denver area. The well heeled fashionistas are celebrating the Hermès store opening while other people in the community are loosing their homes. Does Hermès really need to support the Denver Art Museum that has a roster of some of the richest people in the area on its board? Why couldn’t Hermès donate money to the homeless or other people in need?
The Corporate Slave 
The gap between rich and poor gets wider every day, it seems. Sad stuff.