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But for retailers desperately seeking a silver lining to Tiffany Elsa Starfish most catastrophic of recessions, here it is: The nation's wealthiest 2 percent have kept spending. A lot. The other 98 percent simply stopped purchasing the occasional $300 pair of Chanel sunglasses or $900 Movado watch and the sector felt it. This aspirational though decidedly middle-class customer, who fueled the growth of the luxury retail market in the early 2000s, isn't buying. Tiffany Engine-turned money clip most luxury retailers have turned their focus back to their core customers--those who had no problem dropping $20,000 on a designer bag pre-recession and still don't. These customers are more concerned with the cost of fueling up their private planes than any price fluctuations at the pump. Tiffany Elsa Peretti small--but critical--2 percent of shoppers have been the lifeline that the luxury market has clung to through the powerful economic storm. "There's a been a seismic shift in luxury retail and its relationship with its consumers," says Pamela Joy Ring, a retail consultant and chief marketing officer of BannerView.com. "Gone is the aspirational buyer, Tiffany Eternal Link Cross pendant was an upper middle-class buyer who from time to time splurges on a luxury good. That customer has not rebounded. When we're talking about the uber- luxury brands, we're talking about people whose buying patterns weren't affected by the recession. They were consistent." Ring says even luxury purchasers have become more cognizant of value and are buying in a more deliberate manner. They aren't purchasing in the quantities they have in the past and are sticking with brands they've been loyal to for years.