RETAIL ROUNDUP

It’s not often that we at Retail Roundup get really excited about

statistics, but this week was one of those numerically enhanced times.

That’s because we got something in the mail called the “Wilton

Celebration Report,” a study prepared by the meticulous little

data-crunchers at Wilton Industries, Inc.

It’s a report on the way Americans hold celebrations, complete with

all kinds of strange facts about their tastes in cake, the amount of

money they spend on gifts and where they like to hold their various

soirees.

Did you know, just to take a few particularly charming examples, that

13% of all birthdays are surprise parties? Or that 63% of all wedding

cakes are slathered with vanilla butter-cream frosting? Did you know that

8% of the people who go to a wedding are there primarily to see the

clothes?

We have no idea if these numbers are accurate or not, but we like to

think of the poor statisticians who spent their time running the numbers

on cake flavors. For this they went to college!

LORD HAVE MERCY

Lord Piers Anthony Weymouth Wedgwood! Goodness, just the name sends a

chill down our spine.

So imagine how thrilled we will be when the Lord Wedgwood himself, the

man who is the “international ambassador” for the Wedgwood porcelain

figurine company, strides regally into Macy’s South Coast Plaza next

month.

Why, you ask, is His Lordship gracing us with his presence?

Well, it’s because he’s pushing Wedgwood as if he were an Amway

salesman behind on his quota.

Specifically, he plans to “discuss and personally sign” stuff from

Wedgwood’s 2000 Prestige Collection of objects, including the

Michelangelo Bowl, the Apollo and Nine Muses Vase and the very swanky

Octagon Tea Set.

Our tea set is from IKEA, but we’re thinking maybe if we get the

autograph of a lord and international ambassador on a couple of the

saucers, it really might be worth something.