In one recent instance, a rock band joined San Fernando Valley residents to protest the closing of a store their great-grandparents patronized.

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Not that every store closing is a bad thing.

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"The liquor store was closing up when I bought the last bottle of rum, " David said.

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An evening gathering at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, shortly before Christmas, looks more like happy hour at a sorority house than closing time in a department store.

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If someone enters the store instead of walking by it, the odds of closing a sale rise dramatically.

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For a big store to shut in a neighborhood as bustling as mine before the usual closing hour of 10 p.m. is virtually unknown.

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At thirteen, he recalls, he was nabbed while robbing a Jordan Marsh department store. (He and his friends learned to hide out in stores at closing time, steal their merchandise, and then break out during the night.) The remainder of his childhood was spent mostly in the state reform school.

NEWYORKER: Hellhole