Retail gets ever more competitive

In that journal article I read on Monday, they used the term "scrambling" which refers to extending the types of things that you sell (i.e., a Safeway adding a Starbucks coffee counter or a bank).

Two examples of scrambling...

1. Price Chopper, an upstate New York grocery chain, is testing the delivery of prepared foods, see "Price Chopper to try meal delivery service: Grocer plans to launch new venture this week at Brunswick store," from the Albany Times-Union.

2. The New York Times reports how upscale car dealerships on Long Island are adding restaurants, coffee bars and other amenities, in "How About Dinner With That New BMW?." From the article:

ON the way to Annona, a stylish restaurant on the second floor of the Manhattan Motorcars Hamptons dealership here, George and Mary Ann Mathys of Quogue spotted a 2001 Rolls-Royce Corniche the color of merlot in the showroom.

“It really caught our eye,” said Mr. Mathys, 70, who works in real estate management. Over a dinner of braised short ribs and sea bass, the car was a topic of conversation among the Mathyses and another couple.

“I ended up buying it,” said Mr. Mathys, a car connoisseur who also owns a 1957 Chevy convertible, a 1936 Auburn and a 1953 Buick.

Same old, same old doesn't cut it.