Anna Sui Store in Hearst Building?

My newest, and perhaps most devoted and in-the-know stringer (who doubles as one of the best PR people in town during the day) just contacted me with the interesting news that there is an Anna Sui logo on the retail/street level of the Hearst building on 8th Avenue near Columbus Circle. Realizing that this area is now known for Whole Foods and the block is better known for Duane Reade and McDonald's, we just spent a few minutes pontificating what we are hoping could be a new Anna Sui store, underscoring an interesting corporate strategy: put your wares right out in front of the editors of some of the world's top books: Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Bazaar, etc. and see if your editorial coverage surges - or at the very least - your sales. Anyone with any news or insight into the legitimacy of our assumption, please advise...

(W)Hole Foods

It may be a crime, particularly for someone who lives in NYC, but I had never stepped foot in a Whole Foods until yesterday. And now I'm not sure that I ever will again. Well, not in the Time Warner Center on a Sunday, anyway.

Yes, yes they have great, fun, organic and impressive foods. A sit-down sushi bar. The works. It is a marketing wonder and obviously a place to see and be seen. However, it is amazingly expensive and crowded. To the point of inertia. Stores like this are the reason why I don't go to malls. And the reason why I left New Jersey when I had my first chance. But now with the mallification of NYC, I suppose I shall have to suck it up or use Fresh Direct with increasing frequency (I wonder...do they deliver to my current new address?).

Anyway, I actually picked a few things up and then ended up putting them back and leaving. I went to Morton Williams supermarket a few blocks away. Much tamer, less expensive. But kind of depressing after the rock show I had just endured. Apparently I need my own personal food shopper...and chef...

Union Square: Growing Shopping Oasis

Ah yes, Union Square as photographed by me from inside DSW. What used to be a marginal wasteland dotted with a few good restaurants is now feeling comfortable in its new retail skin. Barnes & Noble, Sephora, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's (nearby), Virgin, DSW, Filene's Basement, Diesel, Puma, Shoe Mania...the list goes on. And situated between 5th Avenue and the East Village, you really can't go wrong by taking one of the many trains that empties into the Square for hours of shopping until you are dropping.

Granted, the turning of New York City into a big huge giant-ass mall hasn't really thrilled me during the last several years that I've seen it happening. But if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. What choice do we have if we continue to choose to live in this teflon town where money continues to pour in no matter what happens? It's quite awesome, in the sense that it instills awe.

I will surely be driven out of dodge in the near future as there is no way that a barely middle class lass such as myself can continue to afford the spiraling prices of...everything... That is, unless I find myself a sugar daddy. Perhaps I should start wearing that Banana Republic outfit my mother bought me (see post from a few days ago) after all.