Business Wars Wondery

It’s the 1950s and in Washington D.C., Charles Lazarus is running a small baby furniture store in the house he was born in.




But when a customer comes seeking toys, Lazarus starts on the path towards creating a toy superstore empire called Toys “R” Us and building immense wealth.




And he’s not the only businessman chasing toy riches. In Massachusetts, a wholesaler called Kaufman Brothers is building a rival toy chain in the nation’s shopping malls.

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It’s 1990 and Toys “R” Us rules toy retail. But when big-box retailers Walmart and Costco threaten to intrude on its territory, Toys “R” Us uses toymakers to wage retail war.




And as the clash of the giant superstores rages around it, the owner of KB Toys loses faith in its mall-based strategy.

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It’s 1999 and the world wide web is the new retail frontier. And both KB Toys and Toys “R” Us hope to use the internet to keep Walmart at bay.




But Toys “R” Us's plan for online glory is about to go haywire – giving KB Toys the upper hand and forcing Toys “R” Us into a surprise alliance with Amazon.

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It’s 2004 and toy retailers across America are assessing the post-holiday damage from Walmart’s brutal price attack.

And with KB Toys mortally wounded, it falls to Toys “R” Us to lead the fight. But when the debts mount and Amazon turns from friend to foe, Toys “R” Us ends up in a desperate battle for survival.

It’s 1895 and Chicago’s a boom town that’s overflowing with pharmacies. But one drugstore is about to emerge from the city’s mass of small-time drugstores and become a national force. 




It’s name is Walgreens and by the late 20th century it will be spreading nationwide and looking unbeatable.




But then a multi-billion-dollar shoe company bets everything on a little New England drugstore chain called CVS.

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It’s the late 1990s and CVS and Walgreens are battling for control of the nation’s best street corners and there’s a huge prize at stake.




Tens of millions of boomers are about to turn grey and thanks to new drugs and prescription insurance they will soon be spending billions at the nation’s pharmacy counters.




But CVS isn’t just eyeing the prescription dollars. It's formulating a plan to shoot past Walgreens by turning its drugstores into healthcare destinations.

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