Tiffany still doing quite badly..

Tiffany's first-quarter earning were down a dismal 64 percent. Sales in the New York flagship alone fell 42 percent. Sales in the Americas dropped 34 percent. The brand refuses to cope with the downturn by adding lower-priced items people might actually buy these days, because they don't want to look cheap. Instead, they bought handbag brand Lambertson Truex earlier this month. Apparently LVMH and Hermès International have escaped embarrassing economic ruin thanks to the sales of branded handbags. This seem counterintuitive, since bags go out of style but diamonds are forever. But perhaps Tiffany can cash in on bag ladies, too.