
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003061763
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Short

LAP OF LUXURY FEELS THE PINCH

New Yorkers hungering for a taste of the good life had to shell out 6.4 percent more money last year than in 1988, in part because of a 28 percent jump in the price of caviar, says a survey released Monday.

The annual survey, commissioned by Moet & Chandon champagne, tracked the cost of a dozen luxury items and services in New York City and found they went up last year faster than the 4.6 percent rate of the government's Consumer Price Index.

There were a few relative bargains for the well-to-do, though: The price of a man's Rolex watch remained the same as it was in 1988 - $11,700 - and a pound of imported chocolate truffles was still $36.

The fee for a wash, cut and blow dry at a leading Manhattan hair salon actually decreased, from $70 to $65.

But Dom Petroff Russian caviar rose 27.7 percent to $60 for 30 grams, up from $47. The next biggest rise was one day of maid service, up 13.6 percent to $100, from $88.

Among the other items measured were a ticket to the Broadway show "Cats" (up 10 percent to $55); a bottle of Hennessy X.O cognac (up 10 percent to $87); a round-trip ticket between New York and Paris on the Concorde (up 8.9 percent to $5,308), and a Rolls-Royce Corniche III convertible (up 5 percent to $215,800).

by CNB