The Sharper Image store on Manhattan's West 57th Street is sharp no more: its last state-of-the-art massage chairs and stylish humidifiers have been put in storage and its windows papered over. A few doors away, the assistant in the Sharper Image-like Brookstone shop seems unusually desperate to make a sale. In between, huge posters adorn the storefront of Metropolitan, an antique shop, proclaiming that it is "Going Out of Business".rnThe economic downturn has struck at the heart of the world's shopping capital, and not even the influx of foreigners taking advantage of the weak dollar has been enough to save Sharper Image or its neighbour. Unlike the fashion houses along the street, neither was helped by the fact that their big-ticket items could not easily be carried onto a plane. But even Bergdorf Goodman, a nearby luxury department store, reported weak sales in August.
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