Buying frenzy at Deitch/Paper store

“It’s not going to be a party, it’s only shopping,” announced Jeffrey Deitch’s chief doorman to last night’s crowd gathered outside the much awaited 99-cent store, a joint venture with the magazine Paper. In the end, only fifteen at a time were let in but, nonetheless, absolute mayhem ensued, with shoppers jostling each other to take home Kenny Scharf fridge magnets, Andy Warhol soaps and Alex Katz mugs. We blame the anxiety of Christmas shopping left too late. Even the former Financial Times’ arts editor Peter Aspden was seen having a rather unseemly struggle to procure a Robert Indiana Love doormat and a Jeff Koons skateboard. It was somewhat ironic that an early casualty of this free-form retail exercise was Barbara Kruger’s shopping bag emblazoned with “Plenty Is Never Enough”, which remained unsold as evermore frantic staff failed to locate it’s price.