Word: secondhands
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...loophole in Japan's anachronistic, anticompetitive business rules, the 62-year-old former piano salesman has built Bookoff from a single store into a 700-outlet phenomenon in only 12 years. While nationwide book sales have declined 14% over the past six years, Bookoff's formula of selling secondhand best sellers at bargain rates has been a recession-era boon. In the past fiscal year, Bookoff increased sales 20% to $179 million, making it Japan's ninth largest bookseller. "There was a demand for inexpensive used books out there," says Sakamoto. "We just fill that demand...
...counterattacking on new fronts. Capitalizing on an increasing acceptance of secondhand stores by Japanese consumers, Bookoff is now opening additional outlets offering used clothing, jewelry, toys, furniture and computer hardware. There is no saihan law for those goods, leading Sakamoto's doubters to predict that these ventures will fail. He disagrees, arguing that the company's pricing and distribution know-how and entrepreneurial spirit provide an advantage no competitor can quickly replicate...
...They can come here and see the culture. They see it's not like they make it out on TV, like we're all terrorists. Here they see everyone joined together, dancing, having fun. They see there's nothing to be scared of." Except, of course, for all that secondhand smoke...
...enthusiasm for smoke-free work environments is not surprising, given the indisputable evidence on the dangers of secondhand smoke. This becomes more alarming when one realizes that an estimated 53,000 workers die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke. The Boston Public Health Commission should indeed be commended for its efforts in protecting workers and patrons in Boston from this deadly carcinogen...
What is a president's life worth? In Afghanistan it may prove to be as little as a pair of secondhand Toyota Corolla hatchbacks. That's the payoff Afghan intelligence officials believe was offered to Abdur Rehman, the man who attempted to assassinate president Hamid Karzai almost three weeks ago. The cars are said to have been waiting for Rehman across the border in Pakistan should he have succeeded and survived his bid to kill Karzai. He did neither. Instead, Rehman was gunned down after opening fire on the president's car on September 5, missing his target but wounding...