CR - OG - 12th ed. Difficulty level: Hard (at least for me)

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Question: Although the discount stores in Goreville's central shopping district are expected to close within five years as a result of competition from Spendless discount store that just opened, those locations will not stay vacant for long. In the five years since the opening of Colson's, a nondiscount department store, a new store has opened at the location of every store in the shopping district that closed because it could not compete with Colson's.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A) Many customer's of Colson's are expected to do less shopping there than they did before the Spendless store opened.
B) Increasingly, the stores that have opened in the central shopping district since Colson's opened have been discount stores.
C) At present, the central shopping district has as many stores operating in it as it ever had.
D) Over the course of the next five years, it is expected that Goreville's population will grow at a faster rate than it has for the past several decades.
E) Many stores in the central shopping district sell types of merchandise that are not available at either Spendless or Colson's

How I attempted it: Read the question, Read the passage and then paraphrased the passage (so I can get a better understanding), Answered question, Got it right :) but only because of process of elimination :(

Could someone pleaseeee explain why B is the right answer (by breaking down how you tackled the question)?!?!

Thank you so much in advance!
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by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:11 pm
When you're tackling a strengthen or weaken question, you have to determine where there is a logical gap in the argument.

In this case, the flaw in the argument is that the author assumes that the pattern will repeat, regardless of store type: big store moves in -> some stores close as a result -> other stores move in to take their place

However, Colson's was a nondiscount store, and Spendless is a discount store. We would have to know what types of stores are closing and opening. If, when Colson's moved in, nondiscount stores closed, but discount stores opened in their place, then when Spendless moves in, the discount stores will close, but there may not be any other type of store that's able to replace them. Basically, we need to know whether stores are being replaced by the same type of stores, or by cheaper ones.

B answers that question - if the stores that came in were discount stores, there might not be anything else that could move in to replace those.

Just a side-note - process of elimination is a great way to get to the right answer if you're not sure what you're looking for! Just try to find the logical gap first.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Jun 08, 2013 3:25 am
Although the discount stores in Goreville's central shopping district are
expected to close within five years as a result of competition from a SpendLess
discount department store that just opened, those locations will not stay vacant
for long. In the five years since the opening of Colson's, a nondiscount
department store, a new store has opened at the location of every store in the
shopping district that closed because it could not compete with Colson's.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Many customer's of Colson's are expected to do less shopping there than they
did before the SPendless store opened.

B. Increasingly, the stores that have opened in the central shopping district
since Colson's opened have been discount stores.

C. At present, the central shopping district has as many stores operating in it
as it ever had.

D. Over the course of the next five years, it is expected that Goreville's
opulation will grow at a faster rate than it has for the past several decades.

E. Many stores in the central shopping district sell types of merchandise that
are not available at either Spendless or Colson's.
This CR makes an ANALOGY.
The premise is about X: Colson's NONDISCOUNT department store.
The conclusion is about Y: the SpendLess DISCOUNT department store.

The argument assumes that X is linked to Y: that what was true for Colson's (a NONDISCOUNT store) will be true for Spendless (a DISCOUNT store).
To break the link, the correct answer must show how Colson's and Spendless are DIFFERENT.

Answer choice B: Increasingly, the stores that have opened in the central shopping district since Colson's opened have been DISCOUNT stores.
This answer choice highlights a key DIFFERENCE between Colson's and Spendless. Colson's is a NONDISCOUNT store. Thus, the recently opened DISCOUNT stores have been able to compete with it. But Spendless is itself a DISCOUNT store. Its arrival likely will DISCOURAGE other discount stores from opening, invalidating the conclusion that the central shopping district will be able to fill its vacancies.

The correct answer is B.
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