Retail Roundup

Shocked! Shocked! Shocked!

That’s how we at Retail Roundup feel upon hearing that the Newport

Beach-based L.A. Fitness clubs will no longer provide towels to their

customers.

Instead of giving you something fluffy and folded as you walk in the

door, the clubs’ employees will now give you the fish eye, the better to

make sure that you’ve brought your own towel.

The new policy, the company says, is an effort to cut the costs

involved with having hundreds of towels stolen by sweaty patrons.

Fair enough.

But what we want to know is this: Where are we supposed to get our

towels from if we can’t take them from the gym? Isn’t that where they

come from?

TAKE US TO THE DIESEL SPACE!

Thrilled! Thrilled! Thrilled!

That, you’ll be pleased to know, is our reaction to the news that

Diesel, that purveyor of uber-hip youthful fashion, has moved into South

Coast Plaza.

We thought Diesel was all about pairs of pricey, painfully cool slacks

and lots of distressed denim, but it turns out the Diesel experience goes

way beyond that.

In fact, says the company, Diesel is about “viewing the world as a

single, borderless macro space.”

Ooh la la. That’s quite profound.

The new store, we’re happy to see, is all about “creating Diesel

‘spaces’ which help communicate the message.”

All we can say is: Take us there, give us the Visa and look out. When

we get in a Diesel “space,” we get a little bit crazy.

CHECK, PLEASE

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, it’s worth noting that Fashion

Island gave an $8,000 check to the Orange County Museum of Art on

Wednesday. The money was raised from VIP seating sold to the mall’s

Summer Concert Series and other events.

Would you call that an act of art altruism? Or is it just savvy PR

work? Either way you slice it, the museum is $8,000 richer and nobody got

hurt.

It almost makes up for the lack of towels in the world.