Ed Brill

What is wrong with this picture --
FAO (parent of FAO Schwarz, Zany Brainy, and the Right Start) files bankruptcy and Toys R Us closes Kids R Us and Imaginarium locations.   Both at the outset of the holiday shopping season.  Huh???  Shouldn't this be their busiest and most successful time of year?  And to do so at this point in the calendar means they've already spent the money on stocking up for the holidays.  It also means a lot of disappointment is in the cards for the end of the month -- or even sooner -- since all these stores are liquidating, which means no returns.  Already, I was in Zany Brainy yesterday and the clerk was arguing with someone who just bought something last week, when the store had a 30 day return policy.
Of course, my biggest problem this time of year is that I inevitably decide to start taking advantage of some of the low prices for myself.  At the moment, I'm looking for a new 17" LCD display for the home computer.  Seems like the best prices I can find are on newegg.com.  Never done business with them before -- any readers have?  They have over 2000 favorable reviews on dealtime.com etc.  Seems like a worthwhile risk, but I won't miss out on any deal by waiting until this time tomorrow or Monday to place an order.  (oh and in case anyone is wondering why I'm not buying an IBM monitor -- no 17" ones even available right now, much less price competitive.  The new PC itself, which is a Q1 04 purchase, will of course be an IBM -- despite all the pressure of all you Macheads :)).