Tiffany's Little Blue Box Keeps Recession Out

Amid the global economic downturn, one American institution stands strong: Tiffany & Co. “Tiffany is as American as guns,” writes Cintra Wilson for the New York Times. “Tiffany has always managed to navigate the dark spells of the economic cycle. It has survived the Civil War, two World Wars, the Panic of 1893, the Great Depression, the psychedelic movement and 171 holiday seasons.”

How? “By providing safely tasteful conspicuous consumption for those who have money and don’t really know what to do with it.” Or, these days, for those who have at least a little bit of money and submit to the “Pavlovian effect” of the little blue box: “For under $100, you can get a black plastic heart, printed in classic dog tag style, on a length of black cord.” (More Tiffany & Co. stories.)