[Richard Kimball]

Some of these aren’t a surprise. Foot Locker bought out Footaction and in a lot of places they were basically running two stores carrying the same products in the same mall.

On the video stores, they’re a dying market anyway. Waldenbooks is having the same problem as all the other brick bookstores. Amazon.

The others indicate the weakness of the economy and the hunkering down of the retailers. Several of these chains, such as the Disney Store, sell primarily discretionary products. No surprise that the Highway 84 and the Home Depot are in trouble. Nobody’s building.

[My Favorite Headache]

If you were to do an off the cuff guesstimate...what would you say is the collective number of people laid off here just in these closings?

[I am Richard Brandon]

I just cannot thank the internet enough for making the shopping experience so much worse. sure, Amazon has everything, but nothing beats a good browse folowed by a triumphabt march out of the store with the purchased book in hand for reading that same day. Same with movies. Where will the people go to gather when the malls all shut down? Ordering a latte by mail doesn't quite cut it, so that's one bright spot.

And since the Internet is still largely tax free - shouldn't bricks and mortar stores have the same status? Why is the internet given the advantage?