Kinko's joins the list of business names that are no more

Farewell, Kinko's, my friend.

I get kind of nostalgic whenever the name of a business goes belly up. Well, not every company. I didn't weep when the name Enron went under, for instance, though I sure felt sorry for its shafted workers, who watched their savings disappear. But when a business has been a good one, when it's served the needs of its customers gallantly, and then it winds up being swallowed up, because of progress, or dumb luck, or whatever, then, sure, it's kind of sad. Not as sad as the moment Wilbur loses his best friend in Charlotte's Web, but it's still a little sad.

But, yes, at the same time, I realize that's the free market for you.

Anyway, as you may have heard, FedEx Corporation is changing the name of FedEx Kinko's, a chain that provides document solutions and business services, to FedEx Office. That means the Kinko's will be no more, or at least we can say it's the deathknell of the name. But Kinko's, which was practically a second home for me in the 1990s, between college and my early days of work, is in good company. Since we're bidding it adieu, I thought I'd take a quick romp down Memory of Lane and look at other corporate names who are no longer with us but surely belong in some sort of business name hall of fame.

Burma-Shave. Actually, this one probably shouldn't be up here, since as some people know, you can still buy Burma-Shave as something of a novelty nostalgic product. Still, the name isn't what it once was.