Make Him an Offer You Can't Refuse: The WSJ Haggles for a Rug in Preston Royal

A Friend of Unfair Park forwards along this front-page Wall Street Journal story about Cyrus Hassankola, who moved to Dallas to open a business that always appears on the verge of closing -- the oriental rug shop at Preston Road and Royal Lane formerly known as "Going Out of Business."...

By Robert Wilonsky

June 24, 2009

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A Friend of Unfair Park forwards along this front-page Wall Street Journal story about Cyrus Hassankola, who moved to Dallas to open a business that always appears on the verge of closing -- the oriental rug shop at Preston Road and Royal Lane formerly known as "Going Out of Business." It was a genius move, till the Better Business Bureau and Texas Attorney General told the Tehran native to knock it off; besides, when everyone else is actually going out of business, what's the appeal? So now Hassankola's taken to straight-up haggling: "They think they're playing a game," he tells the paper.

One thing the Journal doesn't mention: KTVT-Channel 11 did this story in December 2007. Matter of fact, the CBS affiliate takes credit for ratting out Hassankola to the BBB and AG's office, prompting the name change to Cyrus Rug Gallery -- though I think it became Royal Rug Gallery shortly after that. All I know is, the carpet shop's next to the spot of the original Wall's deli, the last Dallas deli that knew what it was doing.

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