Martha's at my favorite store!!

Guess what? I just saw an ad on TV that said that Martha Stewart crafts were now available at Big Lots! Now, I do love me some Big Lot shopping, but Martha? At the super-duper closeout store? Martha on closeout? Wow! I remember when Martha partnered with EK and tried to make a big splash in the paper crafting market. I was there at the launch party at CHA in the room for EK Elite stores. I saw her stumble up the steps and heard her call rub-ons, "rub-downs". I saw her when she almost had a stoke on stage when someone suggested adding glitter to her daisy stickers. I ate the houres de ourves and rubbed elbows. Saw her go off script and choose not to spell out "Martha" with her punches but the word "BAR" instead! (Did I mention she stumbled up the steps...hummm) I listened to her speeches when she suggested that she and she alone was going to revitalize the scrapbooking industry with her re-branded merchandise. I remember her "exclusive" deals with Michales and all the shelf space they devoted to her products. I remember the way the mom-n-pop stores were cut out of the option to order at the same time as the box stores. I also know that her stuff soon ended up on the WalMart plan-o-gram. But now on closeout at BL!? I love it!! I said from the beginning that her stuff was yucky. Didn't like it at all and we never ordered it for the store. The lesson she should learn from this is that you cannot make a go of "revitalizing the scrapbooking industry" by cutting the mom-n-pops out of it at the beginning. Unless, of course, her master plan was to move along sales by devaluing her brand by getting that beautiful $2 orange price sticker on her merchandise.

Sorry...stepping down from my retail soap box now!