Smoking in the Mall

Anyone else noticed this? Every year, and it never fails, you get these bullshit stories about Christmas sales being down from the year before. "Nervous retailers wondering if people will come out at the last minute..." Nonetheless, it seems like most years there are improvements in the amount of money spent when it's all tallied.

This all makes me wonder. Do you think there are Better Business Bureaus or Chambers of Commerce (or whatever) that float this crap every year, or is it just a story lazy news casters use to fill what would be dead air? (Couldn't you always find some shop that's doing poorly? I mean this year it wouldn't be Mylie Cyrus of Hannah Montanta fame, but what about the Disney cut out that came before her...the one with the dimples...whatever her name is? Do you think her sales are going through the roof? I doubt it.)

And if this is a retailer's strategy, it's kind of interesting. Normally retail markets shit we don't need by claiming everyone has to have it. Here it's like the opposite. No one is buying, so we expect you come out and save Freedom and Liberty by buying the latest Chris Brown or Fallout Boy nonsense. It's like reverse mental jujitsu.

I'm sorry, I don't feel sorry if the malls aren't crowded. But I'm so anti-establishment hip you'd know this by now.

We do need to bring back smoking in the malls. Smoking everywhere really. Just have the special locations for it...and not all walled off with glass partitions. Just little areas set aside.