The till is bare

摘要

Arcandor, which owns Germany's biggest chain of department stores, Karstadt, certainly did not fail because it gave its customers too little choice. Its stores offer the usual mix of perfumes, clothes and kitchen appliances. Its website allows customers to buy everything from package holidays to small motorcycles. Being all things to all people proved, however, to be a loser's game. On June 9th the firm filed for insolvency after Germany's coalition government turned down its second request for a bail-out.