Where Will I Get My Computers Now?

As if it couldn't get any worse, Circuit City just announced its liquidation and 30,000 jobs lost! There goes my favorite place to purchase electronics, including that Hewlett Packard I wrote about a few weeks ago, the one that made its demise because of my daughter's Christmas break fruit-punch soda making contact with my keyboard. Where will my husband get his ever-growing collection of CD cleaners, blanks, headphones, batteries, and MP3s? It was convenient to walk into this superstore and get help from the FireDog crew, incidentally, who told me it wasn't worth sending my laptop to HP and just buy an external keyboard.

Circuit City is another casualty to the ever growing body count of the economic recession. Is there any way to compete against over $11MM people who are currently unemployed? And what about the other retailers like Dillard's, Ann Taylor, and Linen's & Things that have also put up the liquidation signs? Will the shape of American retail be changed? Even with Wal*Mart's recent announcement that they didn't make as much as they thought they would.

We are hurting, we are holding back, and we are hunkering down. Prices are lower and for the rare person who does have disposable income to blow on yet another pair of pants, the deals are out there. For the forward thinking parent, now is the time to pick up pants, jackets, sweaters, and jeans for next fall. We've been hit with record-breaking cold, even St. Louis dipped down to 1-degree the other night and this latte queen didn't budge from the house.

This is the time to reevaluate the things that are really important. It is time to freecycle, recycle, and realize that all the name brands that have been marketed to us are not enough to make us real. Life is richer not because of the purse we carry, car we drive, or jeans we wear, but because of the people in our lives, the love we share, and the reality that joy knows no price.

My favorite Circuit City will go away, I don't hang out in the Mall, and shopping is not a joy. What will I do? Where will I get my computers now? I'm not sure, but in the mean time, I will read a book, love my family, and cherish my friends. This too will pass.