'Bankrupt - Sbarro' by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Today's brief evergreen educational entry features the latest episode in Bright Sun Films series Bankrupt - Sbarro.

Since it started in New York in the 1950's, the Sbarro fast food chain had grown to well over 1,000 locations, many of which inside of shopping malls. The chain became a staple in casual, Italian food and was one of the most recognizable shopping mall institutions in America. However, by the 2010's, the brand would ultimately declare bankruptcy... twice. Join me to find out why.

I last examined Sbarro in 2020's Company Man examines the rise and decline of Sbarro, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, the next to last Retail Apocalypse post before COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic. I hadn't gotten into the habit of taking screen captures of Company Man Mike's reasons for the company declining then, so I'm making up for it by sharing his list from six years ago.


Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films concentrated on the 2007 sale of the company to a private equity firm, followed by the Great Recession and the general decline of malls. As I wrote six years ago, "Sbarro's dependence on malls was helpful until the Great Recession but is hurting the chain now, as more than half of their stores have closed since the company's peak." Private equity taking over the company the first time couldn't have come under worse circumstances. On the other hand, the current private equity ownership has been good for the company so far, expanding it out of American malls to other countries and into other locations. Good news.

On the other hand, Jake had very little to say about the rest of Company Man Mike's list, mentioning ingredient costs first and briefly. He had very little bad to say about the food itself, confining his stale remark to the brand, and only briefly citing consumer comments about the product. For critiques of the food, I plan on turning to Weird History Food, which I featured in The rise and fall of Boston Market, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday, but not today. I'm running late because of the field trip I ran, so I'm going to be a good environmentalist by conserving that resource to use later.

Speaking of conserving resources, I missed two Facebook shares about the Retail Apocalypse in Bloomberg Television explains 'How Gen Z Is Bringing Back The Mall,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, so follow over the jump for them.

SciShow on 'Here's Why Personality Tests ALWAYS Work*' for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! Today's evergreen educational entry begins with SciShow explaining Here's Why Personality Tests ALWAYS Work*.

If you've ever done a personality test or read a horoscope and thought, it seemed scary accurate, you may have fallen for something called a Barnum Profile. There's a psychological trick that makes us all vulnerable to personality tests, so let's get into the real science behind personality testing.

When I search this blog's back catalog for personality, I found that I discussed personality types using the Big Five or OCEAN — Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism — or personality disorders. Here's what I wrote about my personality type results in We reveal ourselves on Facebook.

My results showed that I was liberal (duh), well organized, reserved, trusting, and calm. About the only one of those findings that surprised me was the reserved one. I generally test out as mildly extraverted on Myers-Briggs, so being labeled as the equivalent of introverted was inconsistent with that. Then I looked at the list of most reliable liked pages for each trait and discovered why. The pages for reserved included RPGs, Anime, Manga, Role Playing Games, and Video Games. I may not like all the pages with those exact names (although I like the suggestions for those pages), but I do like pages about all those topics, so I can see why my results came out that way. Seriously, what these pages tell me is that I am a geek, but not all geeks are reserved.

More than a decade later, I stand by both the personality assessment and my mild criticism of it.

That's a wrap for flashing back to a topic I haven't explored on this blog since the first half of last decade. Follow over the jump for another look back, a retrospective of the most read posts featuring videos from SciShow during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Howtown explains why 'The Moon's origin story doesn't add up' for Throwback Thursday

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today's evergreen entry is Howtown explaining why The Moon's origin story doesn't add up.

How do we know where the moon came from? In this episode, Howtown dives into the giant impact hypothesis (the least bad theory of lunar origin) and the growing evidence that the story of Theia may be more complicated than the textbook version. We explore how scientists measure the Moon’s distance, mass, and angular momentum, why Earth’s Moon is so unusually large compared with other moons in the solar system, and how Apollo moon rocks transformed the debate over the origin of the Moon. Along the way, we unpack Robin Canup’s simulations, synestia and multiple-impact, evection resonance, and the “isotope crisis”: why Moon rocks are chemically almost identical to Earth despite models suggesting the Moon should be made mostly from an impactor. From lunar eclipses and amateur astronomy to Apollo samples, South Pole missions, Theia, Artemis, Chang’e, and the search for mantle rocks, this is a deep look at moon formation, planetary science, and how scientists reconstruct what happened more than 4 billion years ago.

The video may not be that old, but its subject matter sure is! It's also about a story I tell my students, so I consider this to be blogging as professional development.

I covered the most read entries containing content from Howtown last year in SciShow explains 'Why Geologists Lick Petrified Poop,' a Saturday science special. Follow over the jump for a share of a post featuring a Howtown video that made a splash on social media.

Shane Campbell-Staton says 'I Visited America's Poison Sea' for Wayback Wednesday

Happy Wayback Wednesday! I'm kicking off today's retrospective with Human Footprint on PBS Terra's I Visited America's Poison Sea.

Why does America have a toxic sea… and how did it get there?

The Salton Sea was once one of California’s most vibrant tourist hotspots, a beach teeming with visitors and wildlife. Today it’s a shrinking, toxic lake at the center of a water crisis impacting 40 million people across the Southwest. What happened?

Shane Campbell-Staton visits the Imperial Valley to examine how a desert transformed into America’s vegetable garden, but at serious environmental and social costs. He meets Alex Jack, a third-generation farmer pioneering water-saving techniques to sustain his family’s farm, and Luis Olmedo, a community advocate fighting for the health and rights of migrant workers who harvest the valley’s crops.

The story of the Salton Sea reveals the harsh realities of scarce water, toxic pollution, and a system that doesn’t protect everyone equally. As new water regulations for the Colorado River loom in 2026, this pivotal moment demands a fresh approach to who controls this precious resource, and how it can be allocated more fairly.

I'm old enough to remember when the Salton Sea was the aquatic playground shown in the video and I find it sad that it is now too polluted to still be that. It's now become a place that fits what I wrote in John Oliver examines the UK elections: "One of my favorite sayings that I tell my students is 'no one, or in this case, no place, is completely useless; it can always be used as a bad example.'" It also serves as an example of three of Commoner's Laws, "Everything must go somewhere (There is no away)" for agricultural runoff, "There is no free lunch" for growing winter vegetables, and "Everything is connected to everything else" for water use. "Nature knows best?" We should be so lucky.

Follow over the jump for most read posts featuring clips from Human Footprint during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Company Man recounts 'FAO Schwarz - The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Today's brief evergreen educational entry is Company Man recounting FAO Schwarz - The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again.

The iconic toy store has had 11 different owners since the founding family sold it over 60 years ago. This video briefly highlights how each owner impacted the brand.

FAO Schwarz's story intersects with Toys R Us, one of the first Retail Apocalypse stories I covered, but I've only mentioned the store once, in The history of the Times Square Toys R Us and evolution of Geoffrey the Giraffe, tales of the Retail Apocalypse. It's time it got its own post.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for a retrospective on Wayback Wednesday tomorrow.

Moon safe from 2024 YR4 and fireballs for Apophis Day

It's Apophis Day, when I report on the perils of space. Today, I have good news to follow up on 'NASA Expert Answers Your Questions About Asteroid 2024 YR4' for Apophis Day, when there was a significant chance 2024 YR4 would hit the Moon. Space.com reports No Impact! Famous Asteroid Will Not Smash Into Moon (or Earth).

New James Webb Space Telescope imagery of asteroid 2024 YR4 confirmed that it “will safely pass the Moon at a distance of more than 20,000 km. (~12,427 mlles),” according to the European Space Agency.

It also poses no danger to Earth[.]

As I wrote, good news!

That written, smaller objects have been plowing into Earth, or at least its atmosphere. Follow over the jump for those.

Artemis II for Yuri's Night

Happy Yuri's Night AKA International Day for Human Space Flight! As I have since 2019, I'm sharing updates on the progress of Artemis. Today, I have a successful mission to report. Watch CBC News summarize The Artemis II mission in 3 minutes.

From blastoff, to the first lunar orbit in 53 years, to splashdown, CBC News breaks down the biggest moments of the historic Artemis II mission in three minutes.

I wrote "I'm looking forward to Artemis II next year" in 2025 in space from ESA, KING 5, Business Casual, and the Marsh Family. It's next year and Artemis II happened just in time for Yuri's Night. Perfect timing!

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice examined the contest for the Artemis program in The Missions Bringing Us Back to the Moon.

Why are we going back to the moon with the Artemis Missions? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explore the history of our trips to the moon during the Apollo Missions and why the US is finally going back.

Tyson and Nice were as entertaining as they were informative. They explained why we went to the Moon in the first place, why we're returning now, and how both Apollo and Artemis worked. Good work and funny, too!

Speaking of funny, I'm closing with Artemis II - SNL.

A group of astronauts (Colman Domingo, Mikey Day, Marcello Hernández, Sarah Sherman) give updates on their moon mission.

Snork! I couldn't resist either Saturday Night Live or Emmy winner Colman Domingo, so of course I embedded an SNL segment featuring Domingo, especially about space.

That's a wrap for Yuri's Night, when I celebrate the promise of space. Now stay tuned for Apophis Day, when I report on the perils of space.

Bloomberg Television explains 'How Gen Z Is Bringing Back The Mall,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I closed The rise and fall of Boston Market, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday by telling my readers "I will post another entry about the Retail Apocalypse posts that elicited the most comments and were most active on social media. Stay tuned." I begin with today's featured video, Bloomberg Television reporting How Gen Z Is Bringing Back The Mall.

Over the last decade, malls were left for dead, casualties of e-commerce and shifting consumer habits, with the pandemic seemingly sealing their fate. Gen Z, however, is bringing malls back, reviving them as social hubs and retail meccas.

Teens Sick of Their iPhones Are ‘Mallmaxxing’...

The mall is cool again, with stores like Edikted and Princess Polly luring a new generation that is eager to shop in real life and show off hauls online.

Against all odds, the mall is winning over American teens: they’re getting their ears pierced; they’re buying jewelry; they’re trying on outfits that make their parents shudder; they’re even learning to stand in line and hang out IRL.

After all the "Millennials are killing" some institution, cultural activity, food or other product I've been reading since before the pandemic, I shouldn't be surprised that news media and popular culture would discover a contrasting feature about Gen Z to report. Gen Z reversing the trend by saving malls certainly fits.

Since the video mentioned the role of social media in getting today's youth generation to revive malls, I'm sharing the most active links to last year's posts about the Retail Apocalypse on social media. Follow over the jump.

The rise and fall of Boston Market, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! Today's retrospective covers the most read entries about the Retail Apocalypse during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Before I recap those, I'm sharing two videos about a restaurant chain I should have covered five or six years ago, Boston Market. I begin with the more recent, The Disastrous Downfall Of Boston Market, which Weird History Food uploaded last month.

Before meal kits, DoorDash, and cheap grocery store rotisserie chickens, Boston Market was a real presence. It promised comfort food classics, like Thanksgiving dinner any day of the week, without the cooking, cleanup, or family drama! At its peak, this fast-casual chain was booming, redefining how Americans ate homestyle meals on the go. But almost as quickly as it rose, Boston Market began to collapse.

So what went wrong? On this episode of Weird History Food, we're taking a look at the strange rise and fall of one of America’s most iconic comfort food chains.

Did you ever eat there? What was your favorite dish? Let Us Know in the comments!

Of course private equity played an important role in this story, especially at the end, but it wasn't what started the chain's decline nearly 30 years ago. Too rapid expansion when the company was publicly traded did. Company Man detailed that when he asked The Decline of Boston Market...What Happened?

In 1997, Boston Market was among the fastest growing fast food chains in the country. By 1998 they filed for bankruptcy and have yet to make much of a comeback from it. This video attempts to find reasons behind what happened.

When my wife and I moved to Royal Oak, there was a recently closed Boston Market within walking distance. We would have brought home meals from there if it had been open. Instead, the nearby pizza place and Coney island got our business. Like Company Man Mike, who missed their cinnamon apples, I missed their food and wondered what had happened to the chain. Now that I've watched both Weird History Food's and Company Man's videos, I know.

Follow over the jump for the most read entries about the Retail Apocalypse last year.

Peaches and carrots, food history from Vox for Throwback Thursday

I closed PBS Terra warns 'A Hidden Antarctic Tipping Point May Have Just Been Triggered' for Wayback Wednesday by telling my readers, "Stay tuned for two videos about food history on Throwback Thursday..." Both are by Vox and the first is The biggest peach myth in America.

Peaches are one of America’s most recognizable fruits. In the US, hundreds of thousands of tons are produced each year, and the fruit is closely tied to one place in particular: Georgia.

The Georgia peach is on license plates, road signs, and even county names. But today, the state doesn’t grow the most peaches. Not even close.

This video explores how peaches became a state symbol, how that reputation spread through active mythmaking, and why the Georgia peach identity has lasted even as the industry changed.

That was a fascinating video that taught me a lot of new things about peaches, including California being the leading peach-producing state, not Georgia. I doubt California will become the new Peach State; my former home state has better things to brag about.

The second explains How we fell for carrot propaganda.

We all heard the myth while growing up: Carrots are good for your eyesight. Or maybe even: Carrots can make you see in the dark. But where did this myth come from? And is there any basis in science?

It turns out that carrots are chock-full of vitamin A, which is necessary for vision. But most people today get enough vitamin A in their normal diet, and eating an excess of the orange vegetable won’t boost your eyesight or grant you night vision. In fact, consuming more vitamin A than your body can handle (via supplements instead of natural fruits and vegetables) can be detrimental to your health.

The origins of this common myth actually lie in World War II.

During the Blitz (the German Luftwaffe’s bombing campaign against London and other British cities), the British government had several important reasons to persuade both its citizens and the wider world that eating carrots improved eyesight. The Ministry of Information and Ministry of Food worked together to spread some shockingly impactful carrot-based propaganda. And the myth remains prevalent to this day.

Vox producer Nate Krieger spoke to an ophthalmologist and a World War II propaganda historian to get to the bottom of the carrot vision myth. This video explores the impetus behind this strangely targeted propaganda campaign, explains why it was so successful, and reintroduces the world to Dr. Carrot.

LOL, World War II British propaganda. Keep calm and carry on, everyone.

Follow over the jump for the top posts featuring Vox on social media last year.