Expo and other losers

Home Depot yesterday announced the closing of its Expo stores, confirming a theory: When you're in a store in which employees outnumber customers, you can be sure that store will close before long. A variation: When you're in a store and that store has a lot of shoppers who aren't buying anything, that store will soon close. That was Circuit City.

The economy was to blame, some will say. Nah, both chains were poorly conceived and marginally profitable in the best of times.