Unpublished Newswire

The department retailer up the street had, due to its state of post-apocalyptic ruin, become known in our household as “The 28 Days Later Store.” Fixtures dangled from the white fibreboard ceiling. Piles of folded sweaters and polo shirts cascaded into disorder, their tags boasting incremental markdowns that seemed to shout over one another. The escalator, unmaintained for close to a year, stood inert. Nervous-looking shoppers bouldered their way up its heavy corrugated steps in search of washrooms or the closest exit to the parking lot. All the beauty counters featured displays which...