• Sacramento Bee, Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:15 AM

In a newsroom replete with leather couches, throw pillows, track lighting and a plasma flat screen, LuxLife magazine's offices in Sacramento, Calif. are a world away from the typical journalism office. But then it ain't a standard mass-market publication either: This book aims to that small but ever-so-desirable audience of the really, really rich. The bimonthly goes out via direct mail to the elite in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties. And if you don't have a home valued at more than $1 million, or net worth more than $1.5 million, you won't be getting it.

Less than 40,000 issues of LuxLife go out, although plebes can buy it for $4.95 at newsstands and fancy gourmet grocery and spirits stores. Dominated by stories of yachts, vacation homes, exotic trips and haute cuisine, the mag is still set to prosper even as most of the country goes into recession.

"This is a niche market that is going strong nationally, in big and medium-size cities," says Samir Husni, a University of Mississippi journalism professor who specializes in magazine analysis. "The readers interested in this may lose a little money in the market, but their lifestyle won't change. They still have a lot of money to spend."

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