Following up on yesterday’s post on the dulling of the retail world, this bit on the remaining US Virgin megastores closing up. Apparently they were profitable, but the owners of the spaces can make more money off of other tenants. Thanks, guys. As Heidi MacDonald wrote, “Yet another case of greedy real estate developers chipping away at the fabric of life as it was once lived.” I often wandered into the Union Square store when in the neighborhood, though rarely bought anything because of the prices. It was still a fun place to go because of the vast selection on offer, and if the prices had been just a shade lower, I would have bought more frequently. Unfortunately, the retail chains most likely to snag my rare bits of disposable income–books, music, DVDs–have yet to cotton to the reality imposed by the existence of Amazon and other on-line vendors. Fellahs, you have to drop your prices and make up the difference on volume. If a store offers free shipping, I can wait. There’s rarely an item I need so badly I can’t hold off for a couple of days while it’s send to me by eighth-class mail.

…But I digress, as that’s not what’s happening here. This is just something interesting being turned into something boring. Fortunately for me, the Strand is still just a block away from there, and that’s always my main destination in the Union Square neighborhood (sorry, Chat ‘n’ Chew).

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