And only bigger in terms of the physical size of the store & stocking depth. The Greatland stores do not carry a wider selection of items in stock, they just stock more of each item. (And sometimes, slightly different items. Like the Greatland store will carry toilet paper in the 36-pack, rather than the 4-pack carried in an inner-city Target.)
Since the late 60s/early 70s, Rolls Royce Aerospace and Rolls Royce Automotive have been completely separate, independent companies…which share a name and logo.
Back in the early 80s, International Harvester were hurting financially, so they dropped their tractor and light truck (SUVs and pick-ups) divisions to concentrate on heavy trucks (tractor-trailers).
My least favorite changes are when A&P went to Superfresh and K&B became Rite Aid. Of course, I liked Katz & Besthoff before K&B.
Now that I think about it, “Kreekurmudgeon” seems to be loosing its sex appeal. Maybe I should consider a name change.
My least favourite name change was Bread and Circus --> Fresh Fields --> Whole Foods. Bread and Circus was the best name and it got worse with each change.
Also, there’s a bit of a legal reason for using gibberish-y names like “Accenture” - they get the strongest trademark protection. Here’s an explanation, summarized:
The process of acquiring “secondary meaning” is difficult and expensive. Basically, you have to show that the public understands that even though the name is generic, the product is from a specific company. Coca-Cola is a great example. Much easier to come up with something more random.
And thus they need Great quantities of Land. Those Minnesotans - at least they’re honest!
Hey now. I grew up in New York. Does that mean I’m a thug too?
And if you have ever been in the Downtown Minneapolis Target, allegedly the “Flagship” store, the place always looks like a bomb just hit it. I’m talking Wal-mart mess.
But it does have an escalator for the shopping carts, which is beyond cool.
I saw a story on 20/20 (A US News (‘News Magazine’) program on ABC-TV) yesterday (11/14/03) that talked about Dupont and the number of birthdefects caused by inhaling the Teflon chemicals… 20/20 quoted 2 in 8 Female Dupont workers gave birth that resulted in the child having a birth defect. (In the eyes/ tear ducts.) About an hour later, on a Cable channel, I saw a Commercial… Lo and behold, Invista is the new name for Dupont… I doubt this was a co-incidence. I think more often than not, a name is changed for the mere “If we change our name, our problems will disapear”. I think MCI/Worldcom did this… Phillip Morris is now Altria and these are the ones I cought… I can only imagine what other names slip by, and what histories go by with it.