Andy: P.S. What is the point of having three Starbucks stores within several hundred metres of each other ?
yn0t_: As Bitt casually alluded to, even Americans have no idea how to answer that one.

No I think there is an answer for this, and there is a business-school term (not like I ever attended) for it that isn't coming to me, something like "Opportunity Denial". This is just a fancy way to say that you keep your competitor from opening in those locations by tying up the real estate. No matter that one of the 2-3 identical shops doesn't make money (or maybe even loses money for a while), so long as the aggregate of the stores is in the black. It's a good way to make sure that those evil independents don't get a foothold!!

Oh, the whole issue of chain like Starbucks and Home Depots deserves its own thread! My only strong feelings on the subject are of ambivalence.