A pair of nearly 5-inch black satin heels with a large gold alligator that serves as the front strap retails for almost $1,600 at the first Saks Fifth Avenue store to open in Puerto Rico, more than what the average person here earns in a month and where nearly half the population lives in poverty.
While a nearly decadelong recession has forced many Puerto Ricans to seek a more affordable life on the U.S. mainland, some of the world’s priciest retailers have stores at The Mall of San Juan, a $475 million shopping center that opened last week alongside one of the island’s most crime-ridden public housing projects.
