Until now Gap was giving international expansion as an alternative to offset its falling U.S. sales.

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It shows a comparable gross margin, but has higher expenses, half the growth rate in revenue and scant expansion in square footage. (The Gap, with half of Kmart's revenue, flaunts 40% gross margins and earns twice as much money.) Costco does compete well with Sam's Club, the slower growing, warehouse-style branch of Wal-Mart.

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Starbucks' saturation approach to expansion is no different than, say, McDonald's or Gap (nyse: GPS - news - people ), but it seems to get a bad rap for it.

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Such a deal would close the cognac and champagne gap in Diageo's otherwise well-stocked drinks cabinet, and would help its expansion in China.

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On the heels of a recession and devastating earthquake, his youth-oriented apparel retailer, Uniqlo, is in major expansion mode in what looks like a direct challenge to U.S. clothing sellers like Zara and the Gap.

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According to Gary Jacobson of the University of California, San Diego, only a small part of that gap can be explained by the fact that Republicans tend to be richer and are doing better in the expansion.

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