What’s a hedge fund? How did it “eat” Sears? Jan Weir explains.
My brother-in-law’s family lives in Mayville, North Dakota, a small town midway between Fargo and Grand Forks. Like a lot of towns in rural North Dakota, you have to drive a good way to get to a full-service discount store. For my brother-in-law’s family, it means driving 50–60 miles one way to Fargo or Grand Forks. Add that driving in the winter can be hazardous, you want to try to get your items in town if at all possible. At one time, Mayville had a small discount store chain called Alco. Alco was a small discount chain that reminded me of the old Kresge’s and Woolworth of decades past. In 2015, Alco went bankrupt and as a result, closed the store in Mayville. That was a problem for the town. There was a desperate need for a full-service discount store in the area. The city was able to get Shopko to come to town. Shopko was another discount store chain found in small towns throughout the Midwest. Mayville was able to have full-line discount store. That changed when it was announced in late 2018 that the store would close. A few months later, the entire chain went out of business. Mayville was again without a full-service discount store.
NeoMugwump 