I was intrigued by this, so I decided to use key words from Roger's topic and Googled $10 million boat, Businesses that are getting rich off the rich, etc. I found it virtually impossible to get what seems to be the article in full, because I was always sent to some chicagotribune.com site that only had current articles and a long list of additional pages. But here's what I found at one site:

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Business that are getting rich off the rich
By Jamie Malernee
Sun-Sentinel.com
January 20, 2008

Costs are up, home values are down, stocks are shaky and the "R word" is being whispered about. But for the growing number of super-rich residents in South Florida and the nation, it's only a passing storm.

Between 2000 and 2006, the number of households earning $500,000 a year or more increased 71 percent in Broward County and 52 percent in Palm Beach County, according to the demographics firm Claritas. In 2007, while average folks had to tighten their belts, this group was largely unfazed, according surveys conducted by Unity Marketing, a Pennsylvania marketing firm that tracks luxury spending.

No need to be jealous. That spending, which is predicted to drop somewhat this year, is good news for the rest of us. As the rich have gotten richer, the demand for luxury goods and services has expanded as well, creating jobs and business opportunities. Many SouthFlorida companies are catering to these well-heeled consumers, getting rich off the rich. These are their stories.

Company Name: Magic Restorations Location: Lauderdale Lakes Industry: Automobiles, Collectibles


Joel Glassman spent 12 years building a small company, selling mufflers to the public. It all came crashing down when the state stopped requiring car emission tests.

Glassman, 65, went from planning for his retirement to worrying about how to stave off bankruptcy. Without state-mandated checks, fewer people bothered to replace defective mufflers.

"Our business," he recalls, was "cut in half."

To keep from going under, he and his partner decided to start restoring classic cars for wealthy clients. About four years later, they are flying high with their new company, Magic Restorations, working out of a new 3,000-square-foot industrial site in Lauderdale Lakes.

In one corner of the shop sits a 1965 Shelby Cobra, worth more than $1 million, enclosed in an air-filled plastic bubble shield to keep dust off the sparkling chrome and cherry-red paint. In the back is a convertible like something out of a James Bond movie - a German-made Amphicar that can be driven on the road, then cruised in the water like a boat.

The lesson Glassman says he learned: if you want to make money in hard times, go where the money is. The rich, he says, expect the best, but are willing to pay for it.

And in South Florida, "there's an awful lot of millionaires," he said. "An awful, awful lot. Business, it's way over what we expected. It's done really well."

Yet Glassman isn't entirely happy about this change. As the cost of living increases, he worries about how ordinary people can afford to keep living in South Florida. He's watched friends leave the area. His partner isn't sure his teenage son will be able to stay once he finishes school.

But what is a businessman to do? Glassman shrugs and says he will try to make money as long as he is able:

"We're hoping, maybe by the time I'm 70, I can retire."

Company Name: Villazzo Living City: Miami Beach Industry: Property Management, Hospitality

As Ludovic Roche walked through a $30-million waterfront estate, he noticed the little things.

He frowned at the garden hose uncoiled beside the Jacuzzi. ("messy," he declared.) He apologized for the piles of clothes in a bedroom that a housekeeper was supposed to pack for the owner, who was about to leave the country. And, with approval, he noted the pair of flip-flops in the otherwise immaculate, marble foyer.

"The owner of this house likes to have flip-flops by the entry," he explained. "If there are other shoes there, you should pick them up, buff them and put them away."

Roche saw all these things because that was his job as general manager of a Miami Beach company that runs the homes of wealthy South Floridians as if they were boutique hotels.

Villazzo Living employees leave Godiva chocolates on pillows and "Do Not Disturb" signs on doorknobs. The owner only has to phone to summon a private chef, chauffeur, hairdresser or personal trainer. Once a week, a villa manager inspects the property to make sure all is being done per the owner's specifications, whether he is home or