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L&W – A low-end chain of stores with seven locations in New York, also known as “Losers and Wheezes.” In Random in Death, Quilla Magnum described it as “Crap junk your cheap aunt Jane buys for your birthday since she doesn’t know better, or doesn’t really give a shit,” adding that she “wouldn’t even lift a pair of socks from an L&W.” People who wore clothing from L&W were mostly ignored since they had no fashion sense.[1]

After Eve and Peabody visited the first store on Broadway, “even Eve recognized how the franchise earned its sarcastic name. Aunt Janes and harried parents with snarly preteens made up the bulk of the customer base. The teens joining them seemed mostly interested in the cheap accessories - jewelry, sunshades, hair ties. Music banged and boomed over the sound system while clerks shuffled along to refold stock heaped on display tables. Signs, a forest of them, screamed FIFTY PERCENT OFF! SUMMER SALE! BUY TWO GET ONE FREE!”[2]

Their flagship store was their largest, with shoes and some activewear downstairs, kids - toddler to tween - upstairs, and everything else on the main floor. Peabody said “It really is crap. And too young crap for me.” The target buyer was somebody trying to save some bucks because kids grow out of things almost as fast as you put the things on them, plus kids with limited discretionary income.[2]

When Roarke called to check in with Eve, she asked if he owned L&W. After a long pause, he replied, “I’m going to firmly believe you don’t know how insulting that is. And I’m going to assume from the vicious music you’re in one now.” He added, “Substandard apparel is their business. We had their like when I was a boy in Dublin. I wouldn’t’ve pocketed a pair of socks inside those doors,” leading Eve to conclude that he and Quilla had more in common than she realized.[2]

Eve and Peabody were able to find the clerk, Carleen, who waited on Francis Bryce when he purchased the cheap shoes he wore during his killing spree. She remembered him because he was dressed in “dopey clothes,” which she clarified as “like his mom made him dress for school or church or to visit snooty Aunt Martha.” She also remembered that he had excellent shoes, “brown leather dress loafers, with the tassel. I mean, who puts a teenage kid in those? Lame. But real quality. Alan Stubens. You could buy a hundred Kick Its for one pair of Stuben loafers.”[2]

In Passions in Death, when Callendar shopped for an expensive shirt for her brother’s twenty-first birthday, she went to On Trend and the manager, Greg Barney, gave her grief, suggesting maybe she try the L&W for a more affordable knock-off. He pissed her off but she bought the shirt anyway and her brother freaking loved it.[3]

References:

  1. Random in Death, Chapter 11
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Random in Death, Chapter 12
  3. Passions in Death, Chapter 19
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