Laurence Luxury

So luxury, whether one is creating it or experiencing it, comes from unexpected places.  And, it’s not always the most expensive.  During the winter, I stayed at a very, very nice hotel.  The suite did not have a refrigerator.  They wanted $25 per day to provide a fridge unless I had medicine that required refrigeration.  In March, I stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn that provided a refrigerator at no cost.  So the posh of the very nice hotel was not luxurious because I could not have cold milk in my room without ordering it and waiting 30 minutes for room service.  Where’s the luxury?  The very nice hotel is a famous, 5 star resort.  Should I wish a ride to somewhere in town, they provide a chauffeur and a Rolls.  But not a refrigerator.  It’s always fun to ride in a Rolls, especially since I don’t keep one myself, but is the luxury experience complete?

In our homes, the luxury is often subtle, but carefully planned.  Components like switches are placed where one would expect them to be, and we know, unlike other builders, that they are not design elements.  They are servants, ready to serve, but otherwise in the background.  Our hallways are wide so two people can pass in them.  Our customers choose their own granite slabs, even when they order a basic, Group 1 stone.   This is because, at Laurence, luxury is about attention to the details and the quality of the execution.  It’s about the customer meeting with our designers to choose from a plethora of standard and upgraded features.

Wood-Mode, www.wood-mode.com,  builds magnificent cabinets.  Their designs and applications are innovative and flexible.  They are built with thought to the environment and to ease of living.  So why was I invited to a seminar on “Value Engineering in Wood-Mode Cabinets” by their distributor?  “Fun and Affordable Applications of Wood-Mode Cabinets” would have been more interesting.

Wood-Mode's Gemtlemen's Quarters

Our spring trip to LA was a little different this year as we didn’t make it to the beach (we did visit the Atlantic City boardwalk over Memorial Day weekend.  The beach was enticing but the boardwalk and town are depressed.  It ain’t Vegas).  We stayed in a friend’s guesthouse in Hollywood and did Downtown and some of the more exclusive parts of the valley.  The best shop we saw was on La Cienega but, surprisingly south of the high fashion area.  In a dress shop in an old stucco, single storey, store front, one window showed a surprisingly refreshing take on a mini dress with bunting.  It wasn’t Madonna, and it wasn’t Versace. It was fresh and elegant, not over wrought, but certainly not understated.  I drove past that window 3 or 4 times because I was so excited by the sheer creativity of the dress.  Next time I’m in LA, I’m going to make a point of stopping in.

This outstanding home is available for over $14.5 million in the Hamptons.  It has a great pool house too.  The developers bill this house as “less is more” as they could have done a McMansion.  I love modern, and this one is special because it’s done in traditional Hamptons cedar shingles, not split block, which is such a cliché.  Modern architecture is like custom cufflinks – a very personal statement.

Surely, a large percentage of the price for this house is due to its location.  It would be our honor to create so personal a statement for our customers, whether in the modern vernacular or any other style.  Homes like this don’t have to be expensive, they just have to be exquisite.

The Tale of 2 Pauls

Old line, New York retailer, Paul Stuart, has an outstanding website at www.paulstuart.com. It conveys the luxury of the store and the quality of the merchandise they sell. Value priced catalog retailer, Paul Frederick also has a website, www.paulfrederick.com. I found the site to be busy, but I really enjoy the expansive variety of products they show, particularly their creative shirtings. I also like that their sales reps strongly believe in the quality of the Paul Frederick product.

The Tale of 2 Godivas

To me, Godiva Chocolate has always been a symbol of excess, particularly among the Yuppie set. Personally, I enjoy the taste of the chocolate and its presentation. When I kept offices in Philadelphia, I would often have the downtown Godiva store send gifts to customers I was courting.

Each year, at holiday time, we send Godiva chocolate to dear relatives and friends across the country. My wife anxiously awaits the catalog that beautifully presents our choices and makes us want to buy more! This year, placing our Miami order was a challenge. The Godiva 800 phone line ran out of the selections we wanted. Godiva, like all retailers in this strained economy, is probably trying to limit risk and made sure not to overstock. But if you’re selling EXCESS, LUXURY, and GLAMOUR, can you afford to have too little inventory? And, should your telephone operators sound like they work for a call center that sells chocolates on line 1, balloons on line 2, and discount close-outs on line 3? So Judy called the local Godiva store. The fellow didn’t know the charge to deliver our gift, but did call back with the information as promised. He was gentle in tone and the store did have adequate choices available. And, most importantly, it was so clear that the store clerk wanted to help and make our experience pleasant and comfortable, the way a luxury goods purveyor should.

As you may have surmised from my previous blog entries, we spend a lot of time here at Laurence, talking about luxury – what luxury actually is, how to get it, how to provide it, how to design it.  I think that first and foremost, luxury is about always having everything where it’s supposed to be when you reach for it.

Others think luxury is about appearances and grandness, regardless of ease of use. That may be true at first glance, but when considering the meaning of luxury, I am reminded of my mother’s stories of having to drive friends to the repair shop to pick up their “luxury” cars. She would laugh and laugh because her Chrysler was completely reliable, very comfortable, and consistenly worked when it was necessary to pass by Beverly Hills Rolls Royce.

For a while now, we’ve been working on a design called the Hillhouse.  The exterior and basic floorplan are outstanding examples of American Folk Victorian architecture.  But, I wasn’t perfectly excited with the second floor, and had it reworked by one of our staff architects.  Thinking it was still not perfect, our new young rising star, Daniel Ankri tackled the floor plan and I am just thrilled with the results!

Please view this exciting plan in the Custom Homes section of our website here.

Did you see the “Heard On The Street” in October 10^th’s WSJ?  Gianni Versace has closed the last of its boutiques in Japan.  More significant is the rise of Uniqlo, a highly profit able and fast rising fashion retailer worldwide.  Here’s a link to their SOHO store.

Also check out their site www.uniqlo.com for a more international perspective.  The WSJ suggests that, “The switch from haute couture to high street might give fashionistas a hint about fall trends in Paris.” I don’t know.  Even Betsey Bloomingdale has dropped haute couture and now wears and sells ready made clothes.  Could it be that more and more customers realize, as do I, that consistent quality is more important than provenance or grandeur?

Hope you have had a lovely summer and that you traveled to romantic climes for a refreshing break.  I took my family away on 2 separate trips, one to the Catskill Mountains, and one to our California home.

The Catskills are lovely but have been in the same state of woeful decline since I was a boy and we always feel like we’ve entered a time capsule when we go.  The only decent hotel is the Lodge at Rock Hill, and it’s more like an upscale motel then a hotel, but the pool was fine and we like the granite and bead board wainscoat in the bathrooms.  We visited Liberty, Monticello (home to a great sulky race track) and trekked up to the town of Catskill which has a charming main street revival going on, fueled by a renaissance group of gay merchants.   Woodridge offers a number of new home opportunities and it’s a year-round town, so we’re thinking about that. Almost all of the old borscht belt resorts are gone, the Nevele seems to be the last, but people stay there all the time.

California was hot, which I really enjoyed, but the people there seemed to not. They aren’t use to temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s.  We visited Dana Point, midway between LA and San Diego.  The water there is azure and almost clear when you look down into it.  Didn’t see any sealions, but we’ll go back again I’m sure.  We spent lazy afternoons on Venice beach and fished off the Santa Monica pier.  Visit the 3^rd Street promenade, if you have a chance.  I promised myself that our next trip will include a jaunt to Catalina Island.

Shocker of shockers: If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it:  a highway patrol officer pulled a BMW off the freeway for a recently expired registration, and had the car towed! They just took this guy’s car away from him.  And then the officer wished him a “good rest of your day”!

A trend that needs to be examined: the commoditization of services.  While in a pizza place in LA and then in a bakery, I noticed that while the product creators put a lot of energy into quality and presentation of product, the servers don’t care to explain the foods and their highlights.  Maybe the servers are underpaid, or just under excited, but it doesn’t matter, I’m not interested in waiting in a long line for a cranky server to throw some overpriced, unloved food thing at me.  Of course, if the time were taken to educate me about the specialness of what I’m buying, perhaps I wouldn’t feel disgruntled.

A Realtor, whom I respect, here in Baltimore, says that his industry is moving toward commoditization and that relationships are less important to young consumers.  I might be inclined to agree that customers want their shopping options presented to them as an open menu, usually online, so that they can explore without pressure, but c’mon guys, who’s going to hold a person’s hand when she commits to a new home, car, or piece of jewelry or art.  That’s all about relationship.  We still need each other and relationships so enrich life.

Of course, like Laurence Communities, some businesses remain committed to quality of experience and presentation.  In LA, 3 of them are the Apple Pan, Johnnies’ French Dip, and Lawry’s steak house. Our schedule was so tight that we didn’t have time to stop in anywhere, but oh, the smells, the scents, …tantalizing and beefy, with fruity overtones of pie on Pico in front of Applepan, pickles on the tables, juke box music, and pastrami aromas at Johnnies’ pouring into our car windows, and since childhood, I’ve never understood how Lawry’s gets the smell out into the street as they don’t have any windows!  But, WOW!  It’s much less fattening to smell than eat, but just smelling brings back so many memories.

The streets are full of LED billboards that flash beautiful colors that makes everything feel like Vegas in the sultry summer night. But I’ve always thought that Hollywood creates most shows for themselves and Los Angeles and the rest of us are somehow expected to understand the secret language Hollywood insiders share.

What constitutes luxury? I continued to be baffled that friends of mine pay scads of money for “designer” items, only to find that the quality of construction, and often, the quality of service is not commensurate with the price that is charged. I for one, am tired of paying $85 (on sale) for a shirt whose collar shrinks at the cleaners. I am tired of salesmen telling me that my neck must have gotten fatter. Firstly, this isn’t true. Secondly, as the customer, I don’t wish to be told that a product deficiency is my fault, just because a purveyor doesn’t wish to stand behind its product.

On that subject, there is a men’s specialty clothier here in Baltimore, now a national, which built its reputation on offering a line, and service, similar to that of Brooks Brothers. My last experience there was disheartening. I wanted to purchase a glen plaid suit. I knew exactly what shade of blue I wanted as I have an excellent tie, with springer spaniels on it, which would match perfectly. The salesman told me that I am fat. Well, I may be comfortably middle aged. But these guys do sell separates, and he could have gently guided me to that rack, and I think I would have been perfectly happy. Instead, I was made to feel inadequate. I did ultimately purchase my glen plaid suit at that store, but I don’t think I will buy another there. And, by the way, the suit turned out to be of mediocre quality. It isn’t cut well. I have found someone who imports direct from Canada and can custom size me without my being embarrassed. You may ask, why don’t I order custom? I suppose I should, but I really enjoy having choices offered to me instead having to think of what I want myself.

My Burberry shirts have held up well to repeated launderings without shrinking. Many of my friends have begun to buy Brooks Brothers wash and wears. So in the case of off-the-rack shirts, buying a luxury brand does pay.

But does it pay to buy a luxury brand car? I don’t know. I purchased a new car for my college aged son, last week. Even at entry level, there are now several “luxury brand” cars available. They include, urban look, Nissan Versa, the Scions from Toyota, and the Honda Fit. Candidly, I was drawn to the Kia Soul, which might just be a fashion flash in the pan, but seemed like a lot of fun. The Nissan, the Scions, and the Honda all offered less power and fewer features than the Hyundai Elantra. So I bought the Elantra. I don’t love the exterior design, the interior looks great, and it offers so many features at no additional charge. Why is the Hyundai the true luxury? The car offers more safety features, more convenience items, and a 10 year warranty! In other words, I don’t have to worry about it. And I saved at least $3,000 compared to the Scions and Honda, and $600 over the Versa (which had an inferior warranty).

It was exciting to visit the lobby of the newly renovated Renaissance Hotel in downtown Baltimore, but I question the placement of several chaises in the lobby. Is a person supposed to put his feet up in the lobby of a 4/5 star hotel?