[&&] now to kick things off. . .with sad news.

okay, well as we all know, life is really hard, like...REALLY hard. this recession is kicking our asses and taking NO prisoners. I was cyrfing(cyber-surfing) and I went to one of my good trusted sites. (shout out to thelifefiles!) and come to find out, Henri Bendel is getting "economically washed up" by this recession and they have chosen to stop selling luxury clothing(which is basically their clothing section). according to the New York Times,

"A venerable name in New York retailing, Henri Bendel, is planning to stop selling clothes this summer and focus on accessories and beauty products as it struggles to lure shoppers during a prolonged recession. Bendel’s flagship store at 712 Fifth Avenue will also give up one of its three floors, according to the company’s plans.

Several employees briefed on the plans said on Thursday that they were told that Bendel had decided to eliminate the fashion departments because there was no sign of a turnaround in the sale of high-ticket items, but that beauty and gift products were selling well and typically with much higher margins.

Luxury stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York have all eliminated hundreds of jobs and scaled back their orders from designers in reaction to the economy. Sales of $1,000 dresses and cashmere sweaters began to plummet last October."

damn, guess i gotta spend my stimulus check after all.