Maybe the point isn't to actually buy it...

I was enthusiastic about my designer can opener in an earlier post. I'm wondering if some of my enthusiasm was misplaced - I noticed a ton of the Graves stuff on clearance endcaps at Targets recently, including the can opener. That would suggest that not everyone may have thought what I thought when I bought mine - although I didn't see them for more than 30% off, so people must have bought them before they were marked down further.

Then again, something fashionable is going to be short-lived, so I guess the endcap was inevitable. But whatt this exerpt from a Virginia Postrel interview about some of the Phillipe S+ark stuff puts another spin on it. Target isn't necessarily selling stuff by famous designers because they expect people will buy them so much as to show that they are a trendy, hip place. It's not necessary that people go to Target to buy a can opener designed by Michael Graves - it's enough that people go to Target in part because they feel cool because they are shopping at a store hip enough to sell stuff designed by Michael Graves, even if they don't actually buy it themselves. It's sort of like advertising, or at least atmosphere - even if they don't sell a ton of it, it's important because it makes them seem upscale and a cool place to shop.