okay, i think this is a bit excessive, yet still pretty cool.

so i’ve been buying skittles from vending machines basically my entire life.  there was a laundry mat (or is it, laundromat??) across the street from the house I grew up in, and we considered it QUITE a luxury to have access to multiple different kinds of candy whenever we so pleased.

i dug that.  it was kind of our thing to walk across the street, get some candy (i can still remember the way it smelled in there….ahhh warm laundry and dirty feet), and then hang out on the front porch.  it’s funny to me, when i look back, because it was never a place to do laundry for my sisters and i, but simply a place to acquire some delicious candy.

anyway…back to the present…so in the past few years, i’ve noticed vending machines are getting even cooler.  not only do they serve full meals, make your coffee just how you like it, and dispense a cold, unshaken soda, but they sell ipods, headphones, garmins, and other sweet electronic stuff.

i thought it was pretty awesome the first time i saw one of these machines at macy’s, but this new “luxury” machine has totally blown me away.

at the Mondrian South Beach hotel in Florida, one can buy practically anything out of their luxury vending machine.

here is an excerpt from the Seattle Times:

“In a postmodern echo of the early 20th century’s Automats, where office workers could buy coffee and comfort food without talking to a soul, the Semi-Automatic peddles a jumble of more than 60 items priced between $10 and $1.2 million in a large, sleek rectangular display….

…Never mind the Jean Paul Gaultier dress, the 1965 Corvette convertible or the 24-karat gold hand cuffs. Visitors who really enjoy themselves can spring for a penthouse condo on the property….

…The giant white-framed and purple-accented display holds row upon row of white, high-gloss boxes, identical but for terse descriptions: “Sunset Dinner Yacht Cruise for 2,” “Sony PSP-2000, Black,” “2000 Bentley Azure Convertible,” “Gunpowder Tea Candle.”

Customers can view product images and details on either of two small screens. To make a purchase, they simply swipe a credit card, tap on the product and watch as a motorized arm scoots behind and retrieves it. Products too large for one of the machine’s glossy shopping bags are assigned cards that can be exchanged at the front desk for the purchase.” (i guess the motorized arm doesn’t drag the Bentley around…)

They call it a semi-automatic vending machine, and it all sounds pretty awesome to me.  I guess it takes something completely different to draw attention to yourself in an economy like this one…kudos Mondrian hotel!

-jess