Crap that no one needs

Either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert had a great quip about The Sharper Image's demise-- something along the lines of, "where will I go now when I need a $800 umbrella?"

Actually, Lewis Black had an even better line in one of his shows, about a CEO who had apparently bought a $20,000 umbrella or umbrella stand. Something like, 'my parents have one of those-- it's called a car, and they use it to drive to a place where it's not raining.'

This issue has come up in a couple of conversations recently and finds new relevance as nationwide economic crisis appears more and more inevitable: how much of our economy is based on crap that no one needs?

The Sharper Image was perhaps a bad example to start with, because the luxury market is a category all its own, and in many areas isn't hurting even now. So, forget "really overpriced crap that no one needs" and think about "plain old crap that no one needs." You know the stuff of which I speak.

Today I was at Home Goods, which is full of crap that no one needs. Why I was there is actually kind of a testament to this. Many years ago, someone gave mom a gift card to HG. She regularly complained about how she couldn't find anything there on which to spend it. At one point, she asked me if I wanted anything there, so we went together, and I found a Japanese tea set that I liked. But she didn't like it so she wouldn't let me get it on her gift card, even though she hadn't find another use for the card. Over the years, she chipped at it, until the amount remaining was $3.79, at which point, a few months ago, she handed it over to me. I stopped there a few times-- whenever I was in the area, i.e. going to REI one street away, and had the same experience (but more because $3.79 is a very difficult amount to work with... still, there is stuff there around that amount that I wouldn't "buy" for free). Last week, I bought a throw and thought I was rid of the card, but the throw had been wrongly repackaged, thus too short to cover my sofa (I still have not found a suitable throw, and I still have not mastered the art of lint-shaving all of Gracie's hair off the sofa... if it weren't so much work I'd consider shaving her). Anyway, I had to return this throw and once again shop for something, because I really wanted this gift card out of my life.

It was hard. I managed, eventually. But in the process, I saw some really ugly, and may I add, overpriced, stuff. I had to stop at Crate & Barrel on the way home to unshock my sense of taste. It kind of helped-- I got some nice silk blend, lavender napkins.

C&B is pricier and certainly without the odd hideous item, but it's not... useless. If I had to spend money there, it would perhaps be more money than I'd want to spend, but I'd have the option of spending it on something that wasn't... crap that no one needs.
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In other news:
I haven't had Monterey's Pizza although I occasionally get their fliers, but I may start, because as I waited to cross the street in the pouring-down rain on Friday, a bunch of cars raced right by (I was in a crosswalk, too-- the one right outside the metro) but the Monterey's Pizza driver stopped to let me cross.

I did find a "grocery" store in Chinatown, but the only groceries sold there are the kind you drink.