Swamp Journal

On my way home from work a few nights ago I noticed that the old Service Merchandise space, which had been vacant for several years, seemed to have a new tenant setting up. Being the curious person I am, I took a detour through the parking lot and saw some signs in the window. The name of the new store: Stupid Prices. In the words of Dave Barry, I am not making this up.

Tonight, I saw a television ad for Stupid Prices, so I searched on the Web and found out that this is in fact a chain. The company has 12 stores in Washington state and California. Obviously the next logical step for expansion is...FLORIDA????

Also, throughout the site you see "Always no tax," meaning that they pay all sales tax. However, when you check out the Florida location, there is a link labeled "Restriction Applies." Click on the link and it says that due to state regulations, "always no tax" does not apply. So apparently "always no tax" means "sometimes no tax."

Hmmm....