As I was driving up Wisconsin Avenue,  fairly congested and busy road here in Bethesda, I saw those yellow signs plastered in the windows of two stores: Store Closing! Going Out of Business! Everything Must Go! It got me thinking about what message that sends us. On the one hand, the bargain hunter in us always goes into alert mode when we see those blaring signs. Perhaps we can get a great deal. And that is the main reason those signs go up, and are so prominent. But, if we are not shopping say, for Oriental rugs, then what do we think when we see those signs? I, for one, see them as the tangible signs of the economic recession. And I think that it adds to the burdens of the troubling economic news we see every day.  It adds to the perception that business is buckling completely under the strain of the economic downturn.  It also makes you feel it is everywhere. Another bad sign (sorry for the inevitable play on words) is all the For Lease signs in now empty store windows. Restaurants and retailers are closing their doors and all the landlords can do is post signs. But if you see too many For Lease signs on one block or area, what do you think?

What do you think about this? Should businesses blare that they are closing?

<strong>Update:  On Reuters I found a story on what a town in England is doing about empty shop windows: displaying art. I tried to link here but could not. </strong>