Meatpacking went from a mostly industrial area to a trendy, consumer centric neighborhood. The business operating out of meatpacking aren’t your run-of-the-mill businesses; instead they cater to the needs of New York’s mega-rich. There are only really four types of businesses in the Meatpacking district, and all of them are in line with the extreme gentrification of the area.
Nightclubs and Bars:
Meatpacking’s most lucrative industry. There are dozens of clubs in the area and it’s the most popular destination for nightlife in New York city on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The nightlife industry is fickle by nature; it’s very hard to have a club that’s sustainably successful because clubs become ‘hip’ or ‘unhip’ very quickly. Still, the industry as a whole is thriving, and meatpacking is New York’s premier club destination.
A typical nightclub operates like this: A club owner hires a promotional director to bring people into the club. This director hires a fleet of promoters to bring in patrons on weekdays and weekends. Men trying to enter are usually required to buy a table (which can cost upwards of 2000 dollars at a decent nightclub). Promoters make anywhere between 500-1000 dollars a night. The whole business aspect is complicated and often sounds like a combination of a high-school social ladder and prostitution, but the industry is undeniably profitable. For more information about the griminess of the industry, check out this Elite Magazines interview:
http://elitedaily.com/envision/promoters-ny/
According to a friend in the industry (who requested to be nameless because he is underaged – a perfect example of the shadiness of the business), clubbers come from all different places and demographics. The clubs in meatpacking range from high end (Gansevoort, The Standard) to low end (RDV and Gunbar). The low end clubs will let anyone in willing to pay; many have been shut down for letting in underage patrons. People flock from all boroughs to these clubs, whereas the high end clubs tend to have patrons from Manhattan, some parts of Brooklyn, wealthy suburbs and tourists. At their core, clubs are event spaces, so while the whose and whats of specific clubs are constantly changing and hard to pin down exactly, the overall industry remains pretty black and white. The rich party with the rich, and the poor party with the poor, but in Meatpacking, there are clubs that cater to almost anyone willing to part with 20-30 dollars.
Shopping:
Meatpacking has become a trendy area, and nothing is trendier than expensive shopping. There are about a dozen luxury retailers with stores in meatpacking, and on a nice weekend day, they seem to be packed with socialites and other high-end shoppers.
I spoke with two managers at stores and both had very different takes on the gentrification of the neighborhood. The first was Adam, a manager at Hugo Boss on 14th Street. He said that the store is very busy and that meatpacking is a perfect location for a store like Hugo Boss. He said that the majority of shoppers come during the Spring and Fall, after spending the day at the highline or eating in one of Meatpacking’s delicious restaurants. He also said that the average purchase is about 600 dollars, and that was pretty standard for most of the stores in meatpacking. He agreed that meatpacking was primarily “luxury” shopping, and that people come in to the store because they are “already in the neighborhood.”
Katherine, a manager at Alexander McQueen didn’t have as nice things to say. She said that stores like Hugo Boss, “contemporary” stores as she called them, had diluted the trendy image that drew the “real” luxury boutiques to meatpacking. McQueen doesn’t have customers, they have “clients;” people who come in looking to spend. The store is moving out of meatpacking and to Madison Avenue, where other luxury stores are. 
The average shopper spends about 6,000 dollars a purchase at McQueen – compare that with Hugo Boss and it’s almost a joke. From what I gathered, Meatpacking is no longer the center for the uber-luxurious brands (that, in truth, don’t make that much revenue) and has instead become the home for the pretty, more “wealthy consumer” type of brand (which make far more money). It was pretty funny to hear Katherine’s outrage at being situated next to a “F**kin UGG store!” The shops like McQueen (and Heller’s gallery if you click over to the art page) may be moving out in favor of cheaper stores, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the neighborhood is becoming de-gentrified; it’s actually becoming more commercialized.
There are other types of luxury stores around: Arhaus is a luxury decour store, or, as one employee at the store described to me “a multimillion dollar store that is the rich man’s Ikea.” There are other makeup, eyeglass and even electronic stores around, but with the running theme being expensive. Meatpacking is not the most expensive shopping in the city; that distinction goes to Madison Avenue in the 50’s and 60’s. But Meatpacking is a close second, because shoppers can find stores with prices ranging from “expensive” to “a small fortune.”
I walked into The Jean Shop to get a look at pricing, and was amazed that the average pair of jeans sells for $260. The companies logo is a pig, a wink at being located in Meatpacking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b34XXhVhJng
From what I gathered from interviews with employees at Levi’s and Ed Hardy, consistant turnover in the neighborhood is becoming less and less as more name brand stores move in and boutiques move out. The typical business moving into Meatpacking is a chain store that feels that the shoppers in Meatpacking meet their key demographic, and very rarely do the shops overestimate their projected revenue. The commercialization of Meatpacking has led to a fairly risk-free, efficient shopping industry.
Restaurants:
Trendy restaurants go hand in hand with expensive shopping; after a long day of buying things, people need to eat. I noticed that unlike the difference between “contemporary” (Hugo Boss) and “luxury” (Alexander McQueen) shoppers, all of the wealthy people eat together in Meatpacking. The Restaurants are plentiful and expensive, but only do well in the Spring and Fall, when the 
shoppers are out. I visited The Standard Grill, a massive, multi fronted string of restaurants where each room has it’s own menu. While owned by the same owner, the Standard is really three different restaurants next to each other. I spoke with Casey, a waitress, and she explained that the large eating area decorated with vines and ivy is a profit turning skating rink for the Standard Hotel during the winter months. The food looked delicious, and nearly every patron had at least a bag or two from a clothing store.
The Plaza was the name of the restaurant that Casey worked at, and they switch their menu each spring – this years is pizza. There are plenty of other great restaurants in the area including Pasti’s, made famous by HBO’s Sex and the City. ThinkCoffee is a trendy hangout on the fringes of Meatpacking and has good food, strong coffee, a playlist of 90s rap and is rumored to be frequented by a certain seminar two IDC professor.
Creative firms:
Meatpacking has quite a few marketing and entertainment consulting firms. They are very trendy and cater to the needs of companies looking to maintain a young, finger-on-the-pulse image.
The businesses of Meatpacking all share a common theme: they’re geared towards high end consumers. In a way, Meatpacking is one giant, 24-hour expensive mall. There’s food, clothes and partying, and almost every storefront is there to serve the various needs of identical consumers. Meatpacking is aimed towards those with taste and money to spend, and offers these consumers pretty much everything they could want.
