Variety chain Chubby & Tubby slipping into history?

After more than five decades as one of Seattle's quirkiest retailers, Chubby & Tubby is for sale.

The legendary three-store general- merchandise chain, which peddles everything from wrench sets to kitschy toys to cheap Christmas trees, began liquidation sales yesterday. Employees told customers that all sales are final, saying the company is trying to sell its stores and might close them if it can't find a buyer.

My dad would drive over from the East Side to buy Chubby & Tubby $5 Christmas trees when I was a kid. I bought all my Chuck Taylors there. I know that the owners that started this, and kept it going, are dead and that their families don't have their hearts in the store, but it still makes me want to cry. Maybe it isn't just the loss of Chubby & Tubby, but the loss of all those stores that were owned by people that put something unique into what they did. People that built stores that weren't all the same. Stores that weren't designed by a fucking market survey. I'm going to miss it.