Το connection που πρέπει να έχετε για το κατάστημα του CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN στην Νέα Υόρκη είναι Έλληνας

New York City's Power Shop Clerks



Michael Nitis, 30s
SHOP CLERK AT: CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, WEST VILLAGE


Must-have item for fall: Isunami (inset), $2,795. 45-person wait list


To avoid unnecessary frenzy on his off-hours, Michael Nitis, sales manager at Christian Louboutin's Horatio Street location, has learned not to tell people where he works. "Women go absolutely nuts when they hear the name. They gasp. Their knees buckle—literally," he says, adding that customers often bang on the shop doors before and after hours. Store legend has it that a desperate would-be shopper once flashed her breasts at the manager of the uptown branch, hoping (unsuccessfully) for access.

Michael says the fervor doesn't subside once customers gain entry and that the floor can look like a dogfight, with women snatching shoes out of each other's hands and even offering him bribes. "I say to them, it's OK, you don't have to do that. I know how much you want them," he assures. "I'll do my best." And he does, including calling up overseas distributors over the course of a year to locate a pair of Very Privé shoes in nude patent ($795) for a customer who was
"ecstatic and is now a very loyal client."

The number made of each Louboutin style is so limited that the store might get only 15 pairs and before the shoes even arrive wait lists for items (like this season's Isunami) balloon to over 40 names. That number is expected to go even higher because Cameron Diaz was just photographed in them for an upcoming issue of W magazine. However, special customers—those who spend a minimum of $60K a year—can just check their e-mail and make their selections. "I take pictures of all the shoes that are coming in and I e-mail them to my clients," says Michael, who has been with Christian Louboutin for four years. He'll even send their picks, only charging them when they decide what to keep. Currently there are only 10 or so customers—"[including] celebrities, socialites and business moguls"—who receive this treatment, but Michael insists he responds to grace as well as greenbacks. "Some women come in here and they're demanding, assertive and downright mean," he says. "Rather than asking me, they're telling me and that's when I get into the mode of 'I'm going to be as nice as possible and break her down until she realizes she doesn't have to be mean.' " (His tactic must work—Michael has never turned anyone away for bad behavior.) And if you're generous with your manners as well as your money, get ready to be treated very well in return.

"I'm their husband when they're away from their husband. I pay attention to them, I crack open a bottle of champagne for them if they want. I make it a nice experience," Michael says. "My philosophy is: Never make a sale just for the sake of a sale. I'd rather she be comfortable and beautiful and sexy and love the shoes." Well, we agree that 5-inch Louboutins can make you feel beautiful and sexy, but comfortable? He might have to keep working on that.