Occasionally I'm forced to write posts on this site that make me wither a little inside, but this one especially hurts. The Kromer Radio sign is finally coming down, and it's going up for auction.

As a long-time fan of the sign, I've been pining after the "Radio" portion for years, knowing it would likely come to auction block and holding out hope in my heart that I would be smoking rich before that day. No such luck. When the Kromer Radio sign goes to the highest bidder on August 15th, I'll still scrounging by in $30 worth of thrift-store clothing. The radio tolls, but not for me.

Kromer was founded in 1957 and moved to its now shuttered (but thankfully Walmart-free) Bathurst location in 1974. The Kijiji listing for the upcoming auction pleads with buyers to keep the "Radio" portion of the sign in tact, so at least someone seems to truly care about the future of this historic six foot high neon sign - minimal and way cooler than the Sam's sign, if you ask me.

The helpful ad also offers a link scrabblefinder.com where buyers can make endless anagrams from "Kromer Radio." A sample from the auctioneer's creative muses: "from the word Kromer one possible solution is painting the words LESS IS on a wall (maybe 1 foot high) accompanied with the 4 foot letters MORE mounted directly beneath." While it hurts to spread the news of this auction to those of more means than me, I look forward to your anagrams. Please just don't let this beauty end up in a wood paneled grilled cheese restaurant.

RSVP for the August 15th auction here. If you'd like to donate the sign to blogto, comment below with your PayPal info.