Burberry

The Japanese are the world's most voracious consumers of luxury goods, from Louis Vuitton handbags to Cartier jewelry to Hermes high fashion. So purveyors of those luxury goods are justifiably worried about the effect of the Japanese quake and tsunami on their bottom lines.

Recognizing that even the well-heeled have money problems these days and trying to expand their customer base, many luxury-goods sellers now have something for (almost) everyone. Here's a rundown of some less-pricey goodies you can get at the toniest shops in town.

Shares of luxury-goods maker Burberry (BRBY) jumped as much as 6.5% Wednesday on speculation of a potential buy-out. The stock rose as high 1,204 pence, putting the company's value at 5 billion pounds ($7.9 billion), Reuters reported. Market players have speculated for months that Burberry...

Burberry reported 11% sales growth in its second quarter year-over-year Wednesday, but compared to the first quarter, that marked a slowdown for the luxury fashion powerhouse, and shares fell. Burberry also said it expects full-year pretax profit to be in the top half of market expectations.

Retail analysts say this recession has fundamentally changed consumers' approach toward spending. While predictions that retail will not return to 2007 levels before the year 2012 are fairly common, some analysts go further to say this economy will change consumer and retail forever, and that...