boo hoo retail

a colleague e-mailed our entire company the following list of retails stores that are either closing all stores, a specific number of stores, or just some unknown number of stores between oct. '08 & jan. '09.

closing *all* stores: linens & things, cache, wickes furniture, bombay, levitz, talbots, wilson leather, sharper image, j. jill, piercing pagoda, whitehall, movie galley

closing "x" many stores: the gap (85), ann taylor (117), footlocker (140), eddie bauer (27), zales (82), ethan allen (12), home depot (15), pep boys (33), disney (98), sprint/nextel (133), KB toys (356)

closing "some" stores: loews, dillard's, circuit city, lane bryan, fashion bug, catherine's, JC penny, pacific sunware

the e-mail was to serve as a list of retail stores that we should avoid buying gift cards from during the holiday season as gifts.

it is evident from some of the names in this list (see linens & things, the gap, ann taylor, footlocker, lowes, home depot) that things aren't right side up in the economy. luckily everyone i know still has a job & for the most part it sounds like everyone's company is doing well. so kudos to those of us in austin for now at least.

of course you didn't need this list of retail stores to realize something wasn't right in the economy. unless you've been living under a rock you know what i'm talking about. think freddie & fannie, the $700 billion bank bailout, & now the BIG 3 detroit auto manufactures are on their knees looking for $25 billion from the government. lucky for me & kris right now mortgage rates are looking good & we are hoping to lock any day now.

i've digressed to far from where i wanted to go with this one. back on topic.

so my initial thought when i saw the list was wow, the ripple of effect of a down economy is just beginning. my other thought was what little value these stores added to begin with & how i wasn't going to miss any of them.

when i drive between austin & dallas (almost once a month now) it's evident to me that there are way more BIG box stores than we need. hell, it's evident when i drive to & from work each day that there are too many BIG box stores. it drives me nuts to see so many of these stores. the stores take away from the personality of a city/town in my opinion. many will argue that they offer convenience & low costs. convenience is one of the last things i'd suggest that the offer. shopping in my opinion is one of the most inconvenient things we could do with our time. internet shopping, that's convenient. too many folks are running around shopping after work & on their weekends versus spending "real" time with their family & friends, traveling, going to the park, exercising, cooking, enjoying a nice meal, reading, drawing, you get the picture by now. as i walk through most department stores & grocery stores the isles are packed with 5 or more of the same item. take for example laundry detergent. there is an entire isle in the store full of detergents with 15 or more scents, some with bleach added, some powder, some liquid, different sizes, etc. --- give me a break --- i just need laundry detergent. do we really need that many choices? does what type of laundry detergent we buy say something about "who" we are?

maybe i'm a bit of a socialist but i'd be just as happy as i was when i was a kiddo in school. remember when you got a list of what you needed for school? i'd be more than happy if i got my home supplies determined for me based off the square footage of my home, number of rooms, bedrooms, pets, number of people living in the space, etc. just ship me my supplies once a month & let's call it good. does anyone really enjoy shopping for groceries, cleaning supplies, or anything at stores like walmart, target, etc.?

i think what's happening in the retail market right now is more than just some economic disaster. it's a sign of excess being cleaned up. we never needed so many retail stores to begin with. it's urban sprawl to the extreme.

what scares me most right now is what will come of these big & empty stores (warehouses). will our strip malls begin to look like ghost towns? how long will these building that don't have any architectural character sit emtpy? if i had my choice i'd like to see them all torn down & have them replaced with parks & the wild/natural areas they once were.

i could go on & on about this. so many parts of retail frustrate me. maybe i should just say, oh goodie thanks for the e-mail b/c now i won't buy a gift card (what kind of gift is that anyway - tis this season to be shopping versus finding something that will have some meaning to someone) from one of these stores.

while i'm hating on shopping for the holidays for a moment. has anyone else noticed how quick the retailers have moved to hang christmas lights, reefs, etc.? can't we wait for thanksgiving to pass before putting this stuff up? if you are a UT fan you have to wonder if the UT/ATM game was moved this year from the day after thanksgiving (black friday) to thanksgiving day so no one (to include men) have an excuse for not being out shopping.

bah humbug :)

craigslist powers ACL

for the past few weeks i've been tossing around the idea of heading out to ACL this weekend. i've never been & with my bro from hawaii (bryan) moving to austin this weekend i thought for sure we'd have a blast at ACL this weekend. ACL sort of reminds me of the big mele in hawaii (huge outdoor music event with multiple BIG name bands).

this wednesday kristin scored two free ACL tickets for sunday & a day later she scored us two tickets (not free) tickets to the UT versus arkansas football game. talk about a sweet weekend in austin!

when bryan arrived friday we took him & bryan's good friend monica to manuels for some pupus (hawaiian for appetizers) & drinks at manuels in the arboretum. we then took the windy tour down 360 to maudies for dinner & drinks outside. jennifer & eduardo joined us for dinner too!

saturday was a blast. the game was over by the end of the 1st quarter though. the horns smashed the razorbacks; final score was 52 - 10. texas put their 2nd string team in before the 3rd quarter was over actually. after the game, bryan & i cruised over to opal divines for a beer & then we headed home. kristin cooked up orange ruffy for dinner & we washed it all done with some red bridge gluten free beer (see celiac disease).

bryan & i slept in late (7:20 AM) this morning, but kristin was up before the sun & hit the trail to knock out a half marathon. we took payton out for some exercise where he showed us his wings (long & scary story) & then we returned home to watch what was left of the CBS sunday morning show & then i made up omelets for breakfast.

around 11AM, bryan had to head out to meet up with a realtor in hopes of scoring a new pad for he & the family (carol & kasey). kristin & i started working on bills/budget & before we knew what happened the 2nd round of sunday football was starting. around 4PM we took of for some bird grub & on the way we stopped off at bone daddy's (kristin lost a bet & owed me a beer) for a quick drink. we then cruised to the bird to fill our bellys & by the time we returned home it was 6:30 PM. the bears game was starting in a few & i had to get up early the next morning to head to houston for an executive retreat & there were only a couple of bands left to see at ACL by this time (gnarles barkley & the foo fighters).

believe it or not we decided just to cash in & stay at home to watch the bears game & relax before this next week started. in an effort to get something for these tickets i quickly posted an ad "2x ACL tickets for $20 - still time to catch the foo fighters & gnarles barkley" to craigslist. within 30-minutes of posting i had 5 people e-mailing me for them. in less than an hour i had them sold to two UT college dudes who had driven here from central austin. by the time i had come back to the house to tear down the ad from craigslist i had 10 more e-mails asking if i still had the tickets available.

it's crazy how people are watching craigslist & are that quick to move on something. with craigslist, it's a wonder that anyone ever throws anything away or has a garage sale. as soon as you decide you don't want/need something anymore, just throw it on craigslist. regardless of what it is, it is sure to sell. one man's trash, another man's treasure.

the R8 in town

i assume there aren’t too many audi R8s zooming around town so i feel comfortable referring to the one i saw this morning as “the R8” in town. zia, a good buddy of mine, e-mailed me pics of this dream machine many months ago. i thought for sure the R8 would be one of those cars you only see in high dollar action & sci-fi movies & only once in a blue moon on the actual road.

low & behold i ran past one this morning just 10 blocks from our house. where was it? the R8 was parked on the street right outside austin’s very own & the original kerbey lane cafe. if you are from austin then you know the original kerbey lane restaurant is just a fun loving looking cozy cottage just off 35th street on kerbey lane. the contrast of the R8 with it’s jet black paint & futuristic design in front of the live & loud paint colors used on the cozy cottage was something to see. i wish i would have taken my iPhone with me on my run i could have captured this contrast in design & color with a picture.

austin is such a cool place. isn’t it great that someone who will pay between $109,000 - $118,000 for an automobile like the R8 is still down to earth enough to get his or her breakfast at a place like kerbey lane? heck, for $6 bucks you can get a bottom less cup of fair trade coffee & short stack of kerbey’s famous buttermilk pancakes for less than $6 bucks! i bet this masked person is a graduate of UT’s CS department & is now a game developer who works long hours, makes good money, & can’t get enough of kerbey lane’s pancakes :)