GAP v. Bob's Army & Navy
Recently I read that GAP had a tough quarter (I think it's more like a tough decade) because sales are down, same store sales are flat, underwear sales are crusty...can't remember which sales report I read. It said that they had to open about a gazillion new stores during the holidays to keep up and make sure their shareholders are happy and not revolting. (Revolting shareholders is for another post...) But I thought as I was reading this when did our economy get so dependent on greed? Was it always that way? When I was a kid and we went downtown to shop in Ossining, and the shops were open late one night a week and absolutely closed Sunday, did the merchants suffer? Did they make it because they were greedy or because they were small business people who did this for a living to feed their families and put a roof over their head? When did we have to start promoting Black Friday starting on the 4th of July? And when did we begin watching companies figure out just how t