Requiem for Maas Brothers

On Monday I drove through downtown Tampa on my way to Bayshore Boulevard. It, of course, was a working day and I, well...I was playing hookey (with permission from the boss). And since it was, of course, a work day people were working. And a few of those who were working weren't wearing suits because they were manning weapons of mass destruction (hey, President Bush, you were looking in the wrong place). Okay, maybe they weren't THE weapons of mass destruction but these big ol' crane things were destroying on this beautiful first day of spring (actually maybe there was only one weapon of mass destruction but it was doing a really good job of destruction, I have to say that). This steel gargantua was in the process of tearing down the old Maas Brothers building. It's still in the process of doing so. But in another week there will be no more Maas Brothers. Gonesville. Nevermore. Forever. For those of you who don't know what Maas Brothers is...well, it was the greatest department store that ever existed. I don't know anyone who shopped at Maas Brothers who still doesn't lament its untimely demise at the hands of Federated, a northern conglomerate that had no idea what it lost when it shuttered the doors of Maas Brothers. Oh, the legendary Maas Brothers sales! There have been no other like them since. So, in another few days, the Maas Brothers building will be dust and in its place will, no doubt, rise yet another condo building for rich people...and they will, no doubt, complain about how there are no good stores downtown to spend their money in.