“The place is expensive, yet somehow packed all the time. I can only deduce that despite all of the technology, some people just want to go out.”
I see that here in the Boston area, although a larger and larger component of these cash-flush types appear to be tourists - you can usually tell by the intact families, their dress and lack of tattoos.
What we’re starting to see now is also the young people who are fortunate enough to be working are really sought after by businesses; previous generations would marry and save for a home, but now those things are off the table for many so they’re still in the market for new cars, expensive drinks and such long past the point where my generation was (I’m just past 40). Kind of sad to watch people talk about their pets as normal people talk about children, and how many of them cohabitate with no marriage or children in their plans for the future.