Sad news: Marshall Thompson is closing the District Line, his British-ish clothing store in Georgetown, (also a Best of DC winner). Perhaps there will be a sale.

Fortune reports on the sacrifices rich folks are making in these tough times. The magazine cites declines in bookings at high-end hotels, sales of steak, golf clubs and yachts, and even a downward trend in individual pilates lessons. Don’t the wealthy know it’s their duty to prop up the economy with $398 Coach doggie bags? The other day at Nordstrom — where sales declined by 5 percent last year — the sales lady validated my slightly impulsive purchase by cheering “you’re helping support the world economy!”

And if you think this little dip means you’ll soon be able to afford a Louis Vuitton fanny pack, think again. Luxury manufacturers are apparently responding to this crisis by rebranding themselves as “elite” and charging even more.

I finally managed to get to Mom ‘n’ Pop Antiques in Petworth when it was actually open. The place is full of junk, curios and treasures. For sale, for cheap, I found a communion kit, various old radios, old photos, strange paintings, tools, figurines, furniture. And the very charming owner Bill Sims, who followed his father into the business.

He keeps the store open at 3534 Georgia Avenue NW, just a couple blocks from the Petworth Metro, Mon. through Wed. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thur. through Sat. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Yesterday, I received this e-mail in my inbox announcing something called Shecky’s Girls Night Out. You’re invited … if you can get your priorities straight in time:

I do not envy the woman forced to choose between these two lists. True, as a sassy, independent woman, I find alcohol and frivolous purchases irresistible. But as a batshit crazy woman, I need to maintain my ongoing surveillance of my ex-boyfriend’s online photosets, and consider not drinking a latte “doing” something. Now I know what Sophie felt like.

Washingtoniennes have until April 15th to decide.

You may have heard of D.C.-based freelance writer (and former City Paper writer/editor) Charlotte Allen: She wrote that thing about how women are (spoiler alert) “kind of dim.” Needless to say, a lot of people didn’t like it. Yesterday, Allen was kind enough to meet up with me to talk about the Post piece, the Clinton campaign, and why women are good at tending for the weak and the old (sign me up!).

Here are some excerpts:

CP: You’ve certainly gotten quite a response from the piece. What do you think of the responses?

CA: Well, I thought [Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell's] position was essentially ridiculous. She was saying that women are such frail flowers that nobody can make a joke about them, including other women, which is just absurd. You know, we’re half the population.

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Looking for a token to encourage a young baseball fan’s budding love of the game, but turned off by all that baseball-related violence? The Non-Violent Toys Washington Nationals Mix Match may be just the ticket! Special bonus: No reading required!

Some of us would love to have our own stadiums, especially with the world’s largest HDTV. But if you don’t have $611 million to burn, or a locality willing to give you that much money, this remarkably precise replica of Nationals Park will make you feel like a bazillionaire. Just arrange it so you can see the Capitol to the left of the scoreboard, and for a real rich-guy jolt, put a cereal box up that blocks the view.

Finally, for anyone who doesn’t want to be caught empty-handed when his or her child says, “Dad/Mom, how committed were you to the perfectly serviceable players who filled the roster before the Plan kicked in,” this 8×10 photo of OF Austin Kearns will prove you’re no fair-weather fan. Just $49.99 and comes with aluminum frame!

Todd Pfeiffer, owner of Pfeiffer’s Hardware, surprised me when he said he isn’t too nervous about the new Target and the DC USA shopping bonanza just down the street at 14th and Irving.

He said most of his business comes from contractors looking for building materials and tools that Target just doesn’t have. Besides that, he said, “We have a huge, loyal clientele of people who love knowing the guy behind the counter and knowing that he’ll say hi to your children and your dog.”

The Mt. Pleasant Business Association met this morning, as shoppers from all over the city invaded the brand-spanking-new Target in Columbia Heights. They’ve received a $106,000 grant from the city as some kind of consolation prize, since the Target’s new underground parking lot got a sweet subsidy to the tune of $46 million from the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC), which was semi-private at the time and is now part of a D.C. city agency.

The Mt. Pleasant Business Association is planning to use the money to spruce up their facades and otherwise plot to lure people in to the neighborhood. Pfeiffer says it would be a shame if people “come out of the metro and go to Target and not even know we’re two blocks away.” They’d like to change the metro station’s name to “Columbia Heights / Mt. Pleasant” to remind people of the neighborhood business district.

“People may not understand the consequences of shopping over there [at the DC USA shopping center] as opposed to at Mt. Pleasant businesses, and that it may mean that these businesses fail,” said Pfeiffer. “It’s all well and good to say that you love local shopping, but spending money there instead of here could lead to these businesses’ demise.”

Yoli’s Boutique closed a couple months ago, apparently an early casualty of the DC USA. Pfeiffer said the owner was afraid of the impact the DC USA would have.

Pfeiffer and I agreed that most businesses on the street were probably safe – Target doesn’t have a pupusería yet, for example, and the bodegas in the ‘hood aren’t about to lose their business to Target – but there is some apprehension about how they will be affected.

When I tried to look at the bright side of the new shopping center, saying, well at least we’ll have a place to get things like vacuum cleaners that you never used to be able to get around here, Pfeiffer reminded me that I can get a vacuum cleaner at Brothers Sew & Vac in Cleveland Park, or he could have special-ordered me one.

It made the bright side a little less bright. I have to admit, I’m more likely to go to Target than Brothers Sew & Vac.–Tanya Snyder

And why wouldn’t we? Where else can you find neon pink dog leashes, graduation-themed photo albums, sidewalk chalk, wicker lawn chairs, mascara, monkey-shaped sippy cup and cookie jar sets, HDTVs, soccer balls, Hannah Montana PJ’s, and “Live/Laugh/Love” wall hangings all under one roof?

The long-awaited opening of the city’s largest shopping mall began at 8:00 this morning with throngs of shoppers bursting through the doors. The corner of 14th and Irving in Columbia Heights will never be the same.

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Target comes to Columbia Heights, to applause and (inevitable) hand-wringing. I say about time, mostly because the closest Target to my house is at Potomac Yard, which is flooded with D.C. shoppers, who, to the chagrin of the (inevitable) hand-wringers, desire and deserve goods and services that don’t cost more than they do 10 miles away.

Route 1 is too narrow for the traffic Potomac Yard occasions, and God forbid you should need something from there on a weekend day. Its parking lot, while gargantuan, isn’t sufficient for the hordes of bargain-deprived District residents who’ve descended to strip the shelves bare of cat litter, infant wipes, and surprisingly kicky Mossimo clothing.

So thank you for your sales-tax contributions, D.C.’ers, but hallelujah that you can finally shop closer to your homes than to mine.

Photo by Mrs. Gemstone

Book-minded people around the District have picked up on the closing sale now taking place at Candida’s World of Books in Logan Circle, right on the almost uniformly chi-chi 14th Street corridor. Just another casualty among indie businesses in this epoch of Barnes & Noble and Target? Yes, partially, according to owner Candida Mannozzi: “The margins are thin,” she says.

But there was another factor here, says Candida, and it’s a familiar one to small businesses in a gentrifying city. It’s called the crane drain: For about a year and a half, says Mannozzi, construction on a large retail and condo building just to the south of Candida frustrated her efforts to get customers. “It’s very difficult to be visible with cranes in front of me,” she says. “The construction was a stranglehold on us. Even though most of it is done, it’s too little too late.”

Sorry, can I geeze for a moment? Looking through my Post this weekend, I was struck by how many merchants were offering very generous terms to finance the acquisition of HDTVs. Circuit City, for instance, offers 36 months interest free to anyone who spends more than $999 on a TV—the only catch is you have to sign up for Circuit City’s credit card. Best Buy is offering a similar deal as long as you let something called the Geek Squad into your home to install your purchase (buy online and install the TV yourself, and you can get a free massage chair instead).

Clearly, our economy is doomed. Anyone who takes out a three-year loan to buy a freaking TELEVISION needs to reexamine his or her priorities, stat, and any country whose economic well-being hinges on people having their priorities so screwed up is Rome just before the Vandals hit. Let’s say you buy the Sharp 52-inch AQUOS™ 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV for $3499.99 before instant savings of $350 at Best Buy. That’s only $87 a month for the next three years, plus you get a “free” Sharp Blu-Ray Disc™ player. Of course, in three years, that 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV will be worth a tenth of what you paid for it, technology will have marched grimly on, and you’ll be out the $600 you could have earned in a no-load mutual fund that tracks the market, even in a recession. Good thing you’ve got a massage chair.

This is my apology to the Earth. I needed new mascara. Honest, I did. I was scraping the bottom of the tube so hard the bristles were bent. The only thing I was putting on my lashes was big chunky globs. It was not pretty. I put it off as long as I could, but it was time for new mascara. And, yes, I know what I should have done. I should have taken my lash-less self down to Macy’s and bought my little tube of Bad Gal Lash. I probably could have found the time. But it didn’t feel like I had the time. There was work and more work and cookies to bake and friends in town. This was the height of the holiday season! So I ordered my mascara online. I thought the $5 I was paying in shipping was the only crime I was committing. But, no, my teeny tiny tube of macara came in this box:

I’m sorry. I have learned my lesson. I will never order makeup again.

So as not to be depressed by whatever my family puts under the tree for me, I’ve been thinking what to get myself for Christmas this year.

I’ve decided I want to get a couple of my guitars repaired.

One’s a mid-1960s Gibson J-50. The other’s a Harmony Cremona VI archtop from, far as I can tell, about 1942 or so — the pickguard and floating tailpiece are both made of wood, meaning it’s most likely a WWII-era guitar, when almost all available plastic and metal went to the war effort. My neighbor’s daughter, who knew of my guitar hoarding ways, gave it to me when her father died a couple years ago at 87.

Both are beautiful, and great players (here’s Dylan and his J-50; Johnny Cash played a Cremona VI). But they’re beat up, too, and need substantial repairs: The Gibson has a very visible crack running down from the sound hole and some new tuners. The Harmony needs a neck reset and some binding help.

In other words: I can’t turn ‘em over to the kid at Guitar Center. I’ve got to find a luthier. These guys are such old-school tradesmen that, despite the presence of as many as a hundred thousand guitars in town, I’d bet the number of working luthiers is in the single digits. And, like cobbling, this is a trade that’s not coming back.

As Asian production took over the instrument market in the last couple decades, the price of decent new guitars (like decent shoes) dropped like a rock. One can be had for a fraction of what it would have cost me when I was growing up in the 1970s. New guitars are almost disposable, in fact.

But my Gibson and Harmony are keepers. So, does anybody have any luthier references? I’ve only got three self-shopping days left.

Happy holidays…

There’s been a lot of chatter in recent years about forces arrayed against Christmas. Bill O’Reilly famously called it a war. So who’s Santa’s newest enemy? Facebook. According to a front page article in the Washington Post, the social networking site ruined Sean Lane’s Christmas when it broadcast his recent diamond ring purchase to hundreds of classmates, friends, and coworkers—not to mention the ring’s intended recipient, his wife.

So Lane did something about it. He railed against Facebook’s new feature called Beacon, which alerts your entire network to recent purchases. He got 50,000 people to sign a petition telling the site to stop publicizing what they bought. And as Facebook often seems to do, it responded. Now, Beacon won’t broadcast purchases unless you click “ok.”

And I say, Thank God. I don’t need the whole world knowing how much Diet Coke and Chunky soup I’m consuming these days.

The clock is ticking on tax free shopping. Here’s a press release from the District government website:

The District of Columbia will offer its second 2007 Sales Tax Holiday beginning at 12:01 am Friday, November 23 through midnight Sunday, December 2. The Sales Tax holiday grants an exemption from the 5.75 percent sales tax for clothes, shoes, and accessory items. To qualify, each item must cost $100 or less.

FYI: skis, swim fins, roller blades, and roller-skates don’t count as shoes. Drats!