Closing early

Five of the six major enclosed malls in Allegheny County will close early in honor of Super Bowl XL, either because employees want to hurry home or because management believes customer traffic may dwindle dramatically.

Monroeville Mall, the Mall at Robinson and the three malls owned by Simon Property Group -- Ross Park Mall, South Hills Village and Century III Mall -- are all planning to close at 5 p.m., an hour earlier than usual.

The lone hold-out appears to be the new Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer, which is scheduled to stay open until 6 p.m.

A woman answering the phone at Monroeville Mall indicated the change had been made "by popular request."

If, however, the Pittsburgh Steelers win the big game, Kaufmann's stores at Robinson, Ross Park, the Waterfront and Beaver Valley Mall will reopen after the game as will Dick's Sporting Goods stores in the region and probably a few more stores that haven't notified the media.

-- Teresa Lindeman

Drinks all around

Representatives from Canada's diplomatic corps with territories in both Pittsburgh and Seattle placed a friendly wager on tomorrow's game -- the loser will ship a case of locally produced wine to the winner.

Consul General Stephen Brereton, whose region includes Western Pennsylvania, offered a case of wine from Pennsylvania and Ontario vintners. Consul General Jeffrey N. Parker, whose territory includes Seattle, countered with a case of wines from Washington state and British Columbia.

Mr. Brereton can't wait to sample them. "We are extremely confident [the Steelers] will prevail over the Seattle Seahawks,'' he said from his office in Buffalo.