Morganville

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 193
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:53 am
Thanked: 4 times
Followed by:5 members

Morganville

by amysky_0205 » Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:43 am
Twenty percent of the stores in Morganville's downtown shopping district will fail within five years because they will be competing directly with the Savemart discount department store newly opened in East Morganville. The downtown shopping district has lost business at this rate before and has always completey rebounded. Confidence that it will rebound again from the losses it is now about to suffer is ill founded, however, because _____________________.

A) the stores likely to be put out of business by direct competition from Savemart are the downton shopping district's anchor stores, on whose ability to draw shoppers many of the other downtown stores depend

B) the bus line that has long connected the downtown area of Morganville with East Morganville has a tradition of carrying shoppers who reside in East Morganville into downtown Morganville to shop

C) when the downtown shopping district has rebounded before, the business premises of a failed business were typically taken over by a business of the same kind as had been there before

D) Savemart's business plan for the East Morganville store is based on earning low profits, if any, during the first 5 years of store's existence

E) it is conceivable that the downtown shopping district could shrink substantially without collapsing altogether


OA: A

can someone explain this one?
I can't understand why A makes sense.

thank u!
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
Followed by:1906 members
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:19 am
amysky_0205 wrote:Twenty percent of the stores in Morganville's downtown shopping district will fail within five years because they will be competing directly with the Savemart discount department store newly opened in East Morganville. The downtown shopping district has lost business at this rate before and has always completey rebounded. Confidence that it will rebound again from the losses it is now about to suffer is ill founded, however, because _____________________.

A) the stores likely to be put out of business by direct competition from Savemart are the downton shopping district's anchor stores, on whose ability to draw shoppers many of the other downtown stores depend

B) the bus line that has long connected the downtown area of Morganville with East Morganville has a tradition of carrying shoppers who reside in East Morganville into downtown Morganville to shop

C) when the downtown shopping district has rebounded before, the business premises of a failed business were typically taken over by a business of the same kind as had been there before

D) Savemart's business plan for the East Morganville store is based on earning low profits, if any, during the first 5 years of store's existence

E) it is conceivable that the downtown shopping district could shrink substantially without collapsing altogether
Premise: The downtown shopping district has lost business at this rate BEFORE and has always completey rebounded.
Conclusion: Confidence that it will rebound again from the losses it is NOW about to suffer is ill-founded.

The strengthen the conclusion, the correct answer must BREAK THE LINK between NOW and BEFORE: it must explain why THIS TIME will be DIFFERENT from PREVIOUS TIMES.

A: The stores likely to be put out of business by direct competition from Savemart are the downtown shopping district's anchor stores, on whose ability to draw shoppers many of the other downtown stores depend.
This answer choice explain why THIS TIME will be different: without the anchor stores, shoppers won't be drawn to the remaining downtown stores, strengthening the conclusion that THIS TIME the downtown district will not rebound.

The correct answer is A.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:06 pm
Thanked: 15 times
Followed by:8 members

by charu_mahajan » Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:21 am
Hi Mitch,

How did you eliminate B - the bus line that has long connected the downtown area of Morganville with East Morganville has a tradition of carrying shoppers who reside in East Morganville into downtown Morganville to shop.

Shoppers used to traditionally come from East Morganville to downtown.
Now that Savemart is opened at East Morganville, people from East Morganville will not come to downtown??

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:58 am
Location: New York City
Thanked: 188 times
Followed by:120 members
GMAT Score:770

by Tommy Wallach » Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:45 pm
Hey Charu,

You're making an assumption there. If anything, knowing that the bus traditionally takes people from East Morganville to downtown Morganville implies that even if more people are hanging out in East Morganville, they've got an easy way to continue shopping in downtown Morganville.

Also, remember that we need an answer choice that provides some difference between this threat to downtown and other threats to downtown. As far as we know, this train has always been there, so why wouldn't there be a recovery as there always is?

Good luck!

-t
Tommy Wallach, Company Expert
ManhattanGMAT

If you found this posting mega-helpful, feel free to thank and/or follow me!