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When Vancouver's upscale Lumière restaurant reopened in December after months of renovations, it boasted a new look and new prices that reflect the changing realities of servicing the carriage trade.

A three-course tasting menu was offered for $98, compared with tasting menus previously in the $200 range, said general manager Paul Quinn. The restaurant is currently offering a regular $98 prix fixe meal for just $58.

“People are a little bit more aware,” Mr. Quinn said. “Before it wouldn't have been a thought to have a $300 bottle of wine. Now they think, ‘Perhaps we'll stick with this $100 bottle instead.'”

It's a sign of the new times: Many wealthy customers don't want to flaunt what they have in an economic crisis. Coupled with this is the general slump in consumer spending, leaving many high-end companies scrambling to cut back and trying to lure shoppers with discounts and special events.

Holt Renfrew, Canada's premier upscale fashion chain, yesterday trimmed 131 employees, or 5 per cent of its work force, amid declining sales and customer traffic and no prospect of better times in 2009. And it's not alone. Car maker Bentley is axing 220 jobs; It Holding of Italy, home to the Gianfranco Ferre label, is facing bankruptcy.

And holiday sales nosedived at Neiman Marcus, Tiffany & Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue.

“People are looking for quality and quality experiences but they're not looking for conspicuous consumption,” said Larry Rosen, chief executive of upscale men's wear retailer Harry Rosen, whose sales fell about 4 per cent over the past six months, although it is not handing out pink slips.

Consumers are scaling back and trading down, and not only because of the money. They don't want to wear luxury on their sleeve in this economic climate. Many are going out of their way to make themselves appear as if they're like everyone else.

They're asking for their purchases to be put in plain bags, or be shipped to their homes so that they're not seen carrying a Louis Vuitton or Chanel bag.

For example, some are trading down to a $500 Coach purse rather from a $3,000 Prada handbag, said Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute in New York, which monitors luxury spending. And Coach customers are moving to lower-priced brand.

“It's in bad taste right now to be consuming luxury too conspicuously,” said Mr. Pedraza. “Consumers have cut back significantly. ...

“It's not just for monetary reasons. Most of these wealthy people are self-made; they come from middle-class and low-income families. They know it's in bad taste to show off too much. The majority are Main Street millionaires, not Wall Street millionaires.”

And the heavy discounting at high-end retailers is prompting many consumers to feel that they're being duped into paying premium prices for overpriced products, Mr. Pedraza said.

“There's a sense of there being a gaucheness in spending in excess and coming home with a Louis Vuitton or Chanel bag,” said Lucyann Barry, a personal shopper and stylist for New York's wealthy.

For one self-conscious client, Ms. Barry recently delivered a $1,200 (U.S.) Gucci handbag disguised as a gift so the rest of the woman's family wouldn't know she had bought it herself.

In Canada, carriage-trade companies haven't felt the pinch of the recession as acutely as their counterparts elsewhere, but they're not immune, industry insiders say.

“We are seeing changes in our customers' shopping habits,” said Caryn Lerner, chief executive of Holt Renfrew. “We're seeing a shift in brand preferences and in price point preferences. People across all levels of spending have pulled back.”

She said consumers don't want to be too overt in wearing pricey labels, and instead prefer understated outfits. To respond to the shifting tastes, Holt's is stocking its shelves with fashions that are less flashy. And it's trying to get shoppers in the spending mood with a complementary cappucino or bouquet of flowers.

The efforts are in response to sales that fell “in the single digits” over the past six months at the privately held retailer, Ms. Lerner said. She expects similar results this year.

“Canadian retail has held up reasonably well,” Mr. Rosen said.

“But we've not been immune, it is an international thing and we're feeling some of the malaise.”

With files from Associated Press