motley fool, page-49

I visited a neatby TRS shop and it was busy. However it had no Kmart or Target in competition.

TRS is an anomally in my view of retailing. Small shops can compete with the big stores in high margin premium products. TRS tries to compete in low margin basic products so seems hostage to the whim of its competition. Target, once slated for closure, is soldiering on and reaching for market share. TRS cannot hope to have lower distribution costs than the majors. Also, the smaller the shop the higher the rent per square metre.

TRS is not a destination shop so it needs someone else's footfall where the rents are higher. Then it has to hope that a competing major does not arrive too.

Ebay is a competitor if the product is small and of a higher price bracket.

A legion of competitors sell products of similar or higher quality.

Surrounded on all sides I would suggest. The merchandise manager is more important than the CEO.