Word: rivals
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...billion-dollar juggernaut with 78 stores in 17 states. Whole Foods rose to dominance in a three-year buying spree during which it acquired New England's Bread and Circus, North Carolina's Wellspring Markets and California's Mrs. Gooch's. Last year the company swallowed its biggest rival, the 22-store East Coast chain Fresh Fields, leaving Whole Foods and Wild Oats Markets, based in Boulder, Colo.--one-quarter its size--as the only two national natural-foods chains...
...Boston, where Whole Foods has held sway with its five Bread and Circus stores, Star Markets, a billion-dollar conventional chain, has recently opened four natural and organic Wild Harvest supermarkets. Meanwhile, Wild Oats, while not as large, grew 75% last year and looks to become a formidable rival. In spite of that, Mackey still sees supermarkets as his main competition: chains like Albertson's and Safeway have vastly increased their natural-foods offerings. Such chains, however, may actually help organic stores, says Barbara Miller, who follows the food industry as an analyst for BT Alex Brown. The supers "have...
April Cornell's merchandise has more 'character' than the bland, mass-produced items at rival Crate and Barrel across the street, and since they don't advertise, the store has an exclusive feel. So whether creating a fantasy dorm room, checking out the Provence collection, or just chilling with the 30-somethings wandering the store, April Cornell provides a chance for students with sufficient cash to be (or at least meet) the Martha Stewart of Cambridge...
This rosy portrait of America's next "insanely great" company, however, seems tattered in light of recent events. Arch-rival Microsoft enjoys near-parity in the browser market, despite mounting scrutiny from Janet Reno's trustbusters. Meanwhile, Netscape saw its 1996 profits of $20 million turn into a devastating 1997 loss of $115 million...
Opinions of propriety and monopoly aside, it's plainly clear that, by giving away its own Internet Explorer (IE) product, Microsoft created a great answer to Netscape's Navigator. IE is no longer a long-shot competitor to Navigator; it is the only real rival, and what's more, it's about to overtake Netscape's offering...