[oldtimer]

You have to have your clinton stacked in this brusing retail market.

Jos. Bank and Brooks Brothers are duking it out: people have gone casual, Kohl's, Sears, etc., are big boys who know how to play the game. And Target is supportive of the "gays".

It's rough out there, and my wife can smell a bargain within twenty miles.

Then, of course, is the internet shopping.

[discostu]

Exactly, one of the hallmarks of the 90s boom was that a lot of people figured out how to match the success others had achieved (and really this started in the 80s but the companies didn't go national until the 90s). K-Mart had ruled the discount retail market, they were king of the hill and felt no fear. Then Mervyn's (in the guise of Target) and Sam Walton figured out how it worked and are right now putting K-Mart out of business. McDonald's was king of fastfood, then Subway not only figured it out but figured out how to do it with something that wasn't burgers, now McD's is taking on water and Subway is crossing McD's threshholds in half the time. The world figured out how to make better donuts than Dunkin' and Krispy Kreme is dancing on their corpse.

This is the normal process of shaking out, better carnivores are showing up to take the money older slower dumber carnivores stopped earning.