Wow, talk about a surprise. Circuit City is going out of business. Has anyone ever noticed that those stores employ mostly middle-age men of Indian or Pakistani descent? Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it always stuck out in my mind. You go to Best Buy, and there are these young, college-age white kids just standing around, swinging their keys about, in their smurf-blue polo shirts and wrinkled Gap khakis. The music is loud, the lights are bright - it's a happenin' place. Then you go to Circuit City. There are a bunch of sad-looking, middle-aged men who probably have engineering or medical degrees from their homeland, but they're stuck in Circuit City, selling plasma TVs and stocking the large cardboard bin with $5 DVDs. The lights are low, the place is quiet -- it's killjoy for electronics lovers. Still, I'll miss it. I hate Best Buy, and now the alternatives just got drastically reduced.
On the other hand, I will have fun helping my two favorite department stores stay in the black for 2009. Lord knows they need all the help they can get. I just hope they didn't lay off Horace, my favorite shoe guy at the Neiman Marcus in Tysons Galleria. Boy, could he pile on the flattery when I tried on those Pradas. And the one-on-one attention! I wonder if that is how sad, lonely men feel when they go to strip clubs and think that Bambi has the hots for them, and only them.
