A couple more local retailers are shutting down in Albuquerque. The Full Circle Bookstore and Wavy Brain. The former is a feminist slanted bookstore while the latter indulges in bizarre and underground books and videos. That brings to an end almost all of the locally owned video and bookstores in my neighborhood. I never went into Full Circle. Not because I'm against feminism, but more that I'm a used bookstore kind of guy who scours through thoroughly read copies of the post war classic writers. Writers don't write like that anymore.

I was a bare minimum customer at Wavy Brain, which is to say I went in once a month to get my free movie plus a couple more. I never was very interested in Brad Beshaw's (the owner) literature for the same reason I never went to Full Circle. I chose to read Vonnegut, Salinger and Heller instead of the under and overground crowd of today. I did get my copy of Laid Bare by John Gilmore at Wavy Brain. It basically talked about post war times and stars of Hollywood. I may live in the present by my literature is from an era gone by.

Wavy Brain did have something I enjoyed. Movies. Bizarre, underground, cult classic type of movies. I learned about directors like Russ Meyer, Jack Hill, John Woo (the Honk Kong Years), Roger Corman, Sam Raimi (the Early Years), George Romero and Ralph Bakshi.

I watched Big Bad Mama, Mudhoney, The Streetfighter, Thou Shall Not Kill (Except), The Decline of the Western Civilization, Cleopatra Jones, Switchblade Sisters, Fritz the Cat, Foxy Brown and other titles I hold dear (and a few I don't).

As much as I appreciated Beshaw's movie collection, I could only take them in moderation. While I always went in once a month for the past year and a half, I rarely went more than twice. I got my quick fix of the bizarre and obscure, and I was ready to face the world and all of its contradictions again. All in all, I was thankful that Wavy Brain was around.

But I'm not much of a consumer. There isn't one place in town that can count on my business to help them stay afloat. Asides the necessities, my purchasing indulgences have been few and far between. Rent a few movies here, buy a couple used books there. I'm a token customer, and five to ten dollars here and there won't do much good for paying a shop's rent. Full Circle wouldn't have gained much by my business.

I do prefer going to local stores rather than chains, though. I went into a Borders with a friend a couple weeks ago, and I was baffled at what items they are trying to move with vigor. Fiction was crammed into a back corner. Self help, true crimes and biographies about anyone and everyone was up front with big mug shots on the front. The glossy shine and bright lights disturbed me. I purchased nothing. I won't get going on video stores, but I will say this: video stores have enough fluorescent and flashing lights to compete with any high security prison.

That's the way it's going. No more walking into a self-owned retail operation where the owner is there day after day. No more stores hours like 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. It's turning into open at the crack of dawn and closed two blinks past the witching hour. Borders, Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble. Big 'B' Bummers.

We may be getting more convenience with our entertainment purchasing, but we're losing a lot of the flavor. The big chains will stock the stock books and rent the big renters. But sometimes I get in the mood for a Blaxploitation flick, or a Women In Prison extravaganza. Or a horror flick with a laughable budget. Not all the time, and not in massive quantities, but I liked that I had the choice. I liked that the choices were near. I liked that I was paying the owner and not the swing shift cashier trainee.

But who am I to say anything? Who should be expected to buy what I'm selling when I'm not buying much of anything?

Chris Jungle is standing behind a tree watching the world change from a distance.