Guess they missed Fifth Avenue

By this time next year, the venerable Parisian department stores will be a thing of the past. Also, the Saks, Inc., headquarters will hightail it from Birmingham to New York, meaning the Magic City's number of Fortune 500 companies will have dropped from six to one in the last five years if the AmSouth-Regions Bank merger is approved. As you'd expect, hundreds of jobs could be lost.

But hey, on the plus side, we have a back-to-school sales tax holiday coming up this weekend, so you can feel better by saving a few cents on each purchase of pencils and folders and whatnot.