RETAIL ROUNDUP

Nothing gets us quite so excited here at Retail Roundup as the

prospect of good housewares. Others may stump for life, liberty and the

pursuit of happiness (or whatever), but we primarily wish we had a

gold-plated Krups coffee filter for our coffee machine, a Zojirushi bread

maker and a more comfortable sofa in our living room.

That’s why we’re so extraordinarily pleased about the imminent arrival

of the Macy’s Home store at South Coast Plaza. The store opens up like

Christmas morning on Sept. 7, bringing us “housewares, gadgets,

appliances, a new demonstration area and a restaurant area.”

And that’s only Level One. Yummy!

Almost as cool as the store itself is the opening night party, which

will reportedly feature “The Goddesses of Tabletop, Kitchen, Bath and

Bed.” We will be there, of course, prostrate before these divine forms.

TOY WITH US!

We also note that FAO Schwartz just relaunched its Web site, retooling

it to make it more fun.

To be honest, we have never met a fun Web site in our entire life. All

the hype aside, the Web is as boring as a party full of accountants.

But on FAO.com we were able to locate a Lady Liberty Barbie, a doll

that features “a dramatic headpiece, heavy beading and embroidery, and

over-the-top fantasy glamour.”

And that’s all we really want out of life.

Lady Liberty Barbie is available for a mere $199 on FAO.com. But if

the Web site seems too boring even in its new incarnation, we suggest

scooting over to the real-life store, which is in South Coast Plaza.

(You’ll be over there anyway for the Macy’s thing.)

NONSTICK

We received a funny little glue pen from 3M -- the Scotch tape people

-- along with a press release explaining the reason we should be so

excited about it.

The point, the letter noted, was that we could use the pen for

preserving “precious family photos,” an activity which is “the latest ‘in

thing.”’

It is? Not in our universe. We only take pictures of our housewares,

which we love, love, love.

But thanks for the glue.