Jan. 20--Time for my annual look at some of the best and worst moments for shoppers and consumers last year. Send me your own rants and raves if I've missed something. No doubt the biggest story for us in 2008 was the loss of many retailers, including Steve & Barry's, Linens N' Things, ReFurnish, and selected locations of Home Depot. In 2009 we're losing Macy's Brookdale, Circuit City, Club Libby Lu, Smith & Hawken in St. Paul and Cost Plus World Markets. Who else is vulnerable in 2009, according to Walletpop.com? Office Depot, Pier 1, Sears, Ethan Allen, Fashion Bug, Ann Taylor, PacSun, Mattress Discounters and Limited Too.

Classiest, cleverest GOB sale

Quitting-business sales are by nature depressing, but the classiest going-out-of-business sale that I witnessed was the recent demise of 42nd Street Gifts (4165 Minnehaha Av. S., Minneapolis). Annie Hines, who owned the shop for 12 years, included games and prizes at her sale. Customers were allotted points for their purchases but also just for coming in the door (no purchase required). Many customers came in multiple times, unlike most GOB sales where customers come in only once, said Tom Son of Wingate Sales Solutions, the sale organizer. Prizes included a 42-inch flat-screen TV, a wool rug, and a Sheraton hotel stay. "It made the atmosphere feel less like a wake and more like a game," said Hines. She closed the store last week after a six-week sale. A word to the wise -- if you have beloved, independent stores in your neighborhood that you'd hate to lose, support them before the GOB sale.

Longest GOB sale

Wickes won the award in 2007 for a going-out-of-business sale that lasted four months. The 2008 winner easily surpassed Wickes' "longevity." River of Goods in St. Paul started its sale in August and kept it going until mid-January, a six-month last gasp. The funniest thing about the marathon? Discounts started at 70 percent and by January had "shot up" to 80 percent. Even at 80 percent off, I was never convinced that the merchandise was a good deal. The fact that its imported items could not easily be found anywhere else in the Twin Cities for comparison's sake made the discounts more suspect.

Weirdest sale

Opitz Outlet had a quirky, amazing shoe bargain -- mis-mates one-half size different than the other shoe for $5. Opitz' Annex (4300 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park, 952-922-3536) sold hundreds of pairs of men's and women's new, undamaged mis-mates from designers for $5, regularly up to $400. The sale was so successful that a new shipment of 1,200 women's and 200 men's mis-mates starts tomorrow.