Crumpler Bags, which for two two years running has offered a Beer-for-Bags exchange at its NYC flagship, has switched gears, going from drunkard to drive. This fall the Aussie-based bag store on 8th Avenue and W 4th is collecting canned food. The deal is simple, though not quite as extravagant as Beer-for-Bags (which amounted to straight barter): Bring in four cans of food to donate and and get 20 percent off any bag — the most popular are the messenger bags, but you have everything from phone cases to luggage to choose from. Back when the store filled with beer, customers popped open the brews in-store, and chugged Fosters or Guinness while considering what their trade would net them, so the atmosphere might be going from kegger to do-gooder, but a sale's a sale.
Store employees are looking especially for cans of fruits and vegetables in the last couple of days. The special ends tomorrow at 7 p.m. when the store closes. Though after that date you can probably still donate canned goods to the needy, you just won't get a bag for your trouble.
