Im at Bergdorf-Goodman Department Store in New York, arguably the snootiest 5th Avenue shopping shrine of them all. Diane Feen, editor of both the Hat Life Directory and the Hat Life Newsletter, and I are meeting to check out the stores hat departments. At the mens side of the street (the B-G behemoth occupies both sides of 5th between 57th and 58th), I pop on a natty straw hat with a stingy brim ($175!) Diane pulls out her digital camera and snaps a shot. Security from Al Quada terrorists should be so good we are surrounded - No pictures, No pictures in the store. Well, excuuuuuuse us. The same scene transpires later at the womens store side of the street. This is clearly an important store directive. I have been a hat merchant for 27 years, currently with four locations throughout California. For the life of me, I cannot make sense of this policy. Here are the reasons, as I see them, why people will take pictures wearing hats in a retail store. Am missing something? Please use the comments link below and let me know if I am:

1. Hats are fun and a picture in a hat is a good memory of an occasion, something to share with family or friends. People will talk about the picture with others: Here I am at Bergdorf-Goodman Department store wearing this cute hat, yada yada. Isnt that good store marketing?

2. Maybe one wants to purchase a hat and the image is a reference. The idea is to go home and get an opinion from your spouse or friend. You note the size and when ready to buy, go on line and purchase it. Or find it in the stores catalog, or call them up and give this hotsy-totsy store your credit card number an have them ship it. Oh, youre not sure what hat I want. No problem, Ill email you the image taken at your store. Isnt this good for business?

3. You are a big bad competitor and want to knock off the hat. Well, you cant make a decent knock-off without the product. If you have the resources and the resolve to have this hat copied, you are going to need to buy the hat to get it right. Its a ridiculous notion that one would make the necessary big-dollar investment to replicate this hat and not at least purchase one unit for the project.

4. You are a terrorist and your objective is really to stake out the store and the hat picture is a ruse. (Or, you are looking to copy the stores interior design, fixtures, or accoutrements.) Well, if your purposes were that nefarious, wouldnt you be using one (or many) of the small hidden cameras that are all over the place (and getting cheaper, smaller, and more clandestine all the time)? I mean James Bond had this technology forty years ago.

What did I miss? If hat merchants allow customers to take pictures, isnt this good for business? Policies like Dont shoot the hats come from a lemmings mentality. Oh, everyone institutes it, this must be good policy. Big institutions are not immune from bad ideas (think USA).

Fred Belinsky http://VillageHatShop.com