Word: banana
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...nominally independent homelands -- Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana and Ciskei -- are collectively known in South Africa as the TVBC states. Their sovereignty is recognized by no one apart from South Africa and other homeland ; states. That limited diplomatic visibility, however, has not prevented some of them from succumbing to banana-republic political and financial excesses on a world-class scale -- including the imposition of one-party rule, nepotism, official corruption and wildly extravagant spending...
...Street veterans grab for their rip cords. "I've never seen a stock fall that far, that fast," said Barry Bryant, a retail analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert. "This is a decline that leaves you gasping." Only a month ago Gap Inc., owner of the Gap, GapKids and the Banana Republic clothing chains, had been one of the stock market's highest flyers. But from an August peak of 77 7/8, the stock sank to 37 early last week, down 52%. That included a 10 1/4-point drop last Monday alone...
...specialty retail business that is siphoning sales away from department stores. Founded in 1969 by Entrepreneur Donald Fisher, the company relied heavily on the blue-jeans craze in the 1970s, but then added bright-colored, practical sports clothes. In 1983 Fisher made two shrewd moves. He bought Banana Republic, a San Francisco retailer with three stores and a catalog operation that sold trendy travel and safari wear, and he hired a new president, Millard Drexler, the marketing whiz from the Bronx who had turned around the faltering Ann Taylor chain...
Drexler worked similar magic at the Gap. Between 1983 and 1986 its sales rose from $480 million to $848 million as the number of stores expanded from 550 to 724. Banana Republic alone grew to 65 stores. The Gap's annual profits ballooned from $21.6 million to $68.1 million. Before its dive, the firm's stock price had risen nearly 2,900% in five years. Said Dean Witter Reynolds Analyst William Tichy before the stock's plunge: "This thing has just defied the law of gravity...
...apparently made some mighty miscalculations of its own. Analysts say its fall colors, weighted heavily toward gray, beige and olive, were too drab for many shoppers. The chain's staples -- roomy buffalo-plaid flannel shirts, ten-button Tees and jeans -- did not offer buyers anything fresh. Even Banana Republic's safari look was running out of steam. Meanwhile, copycat stores seemed to be appearing on every corner...