I was in NYC in early March for an art fair, etc. My to-do list included going to Pearl Paint where I have purchased supplies including special (to me) sketchbooks for over 30 years. I walked in the front doors of the ubiquitous red and white-striped façade and knew something was up. There was no bag-checker giving me attitude about my backpack and the disinterested cashier just waved me off as she talked on her phone. I headed for the stairs noticing the not so packed portfolio display and a lousy postcard collection, art books were no where to be found. I walked up to the 3rd floor and made my selections and started a conversation with a heavily bearded sales guy and he told me that many of his friends from the store had been laid off and it was just a matter of time before he would get the slip. This of course bummed me out and I remember shaking my fist at Amazon and then decided to take some pictures for posterity. I have great memories of Pearl Paint especially in my younger days when a group of us artist friends would go especially in the winter and just hang out debating materials and warming up. The stairwell would be wet and slippery from melted snow and it could get so crowded sometimes I would have amazing meet-and-greets and quickie flirtations in the time it would take to walk up the next flight of stairs. Below is a link to what happened to Pearl Paint for the record. Amazon never bugs me about my backpack!
