RETAIL ROUNDUP

The historic Dairy Center of Costa Mesa will have a sidewalk sale from

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Friday and Saturday. The sale will feature gifts,

collectibles, flowers and other items, discounted from 10% to 50%.

The Dairy Center is at 1720 Santa Ana Avenue. For more information,

call (949) 642-8944.

NO TIME TO MAKEUP

This week, by the way, we feature the nonhumorous version of Retail

Roundup. We just don’t feel very funny this week. And it’s good thing,

too, because there is nothing funny about the “museum-quality” exhibit of

Estee Lauder vintage solid perfume compacts that opens Friday at Neiman

Marcus at Fashion Island.

The exhibit will feature nearly 100 compacts from the last 30 years of

company designs. The Newport Beach show is the first stop on the makeup

tour, which will go from here to San Francisco, Fort Worth, Tex.,

Washington, D.C., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

GALA HOPPING

It might be too early to think about Christmas, but it’s not too early

to think about the Opening Night Gala of The Christmas Company, which

will take place Oct. 14.

The lavish affair will be held in Building 10 at the Orange County

Fairgrounds, and we don’t think that’s funny, either.

The Christmas Company, of course, is a fund-raising event that

benefits the Junior League of Orange County.

It runs Oct. 15-18 at the fairgrounds, cramming together 70 retailers

for your holiday shopping convenience.

MY DRUGS

Finally, we note that the Newport Beach company MyDrugRep.com just

launched a Web site that is intended to help doctors and pharmaceutical

companies work together more effectively.

The site provides free information for doctors about what sorts of

drugs might come in handy in dealing with various medical situations.