Glass is Half-Empty for New Year's Glasses Makers

The pair who invented those New Year's glasses with the year numerals say they are hanging up the shades after 2009. Richard Sclafani, half of the duo (and who was born in Brooklyn), said, "It doesn't look very good for 2010. You wind up with a '1' in front of one of your eyes." One reason is that it'll be costly to create a new mold—he says they only made a profit of $92,000 in their peak year, and business has fallen off since 2001. Plus, knock-offs sell for 79 cents, which is what Sclafani and Peter Cicero charge as the wholesale price of the glasses (Sclafani made 10,000 this year and only sold 2800). Still, they knew it was a great idea when they came up with it in 1990; Sclafani said, "I could picture the people in Times Square wearing them."