Set 22, colson's dept store

[prachich1987]

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 customers 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.
[/spoiler]

[winner's attitude]

A

[prachich1987]

A

No.The correct answer is B

[mundasingh123]

A

No.The correct answer is B

prachich,Which book did u findset22 in ? Princeton Review 1012 ?

[jaxis]

Hi guys,

I think this is a official question.

The structure of this cr is :
1) The author predicts some thing about a discount store.
2) He cites a example based on nondiscount store to support his argument.


the option that identifies this flaw will be the answer,Which i think is B.

[shovan85]

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?

The Argument is highlighted in Green.

The passage says: There is a general trend that no old place remain vacant and new shop comes in the place of old with in the span of 5 years. For this an example has been shown. Colson's non-discount store. But this trend may not hold true for SpendLess, a discount store.

Reason trend will not hold true: SpendLess is Discount store, unlike Colson, which is a non-discount store.

We have to expose this from the options in order to weaken the argument. We have to show that those place will stay Vacant.

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

There is no customer comparison to be made between these stores as Colson is just an example of the Trend. Also we cannot say if the both stores are in Goreville's central shopping district.

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

If the new stores were discount stores, that's why they were able to compete with colson's. However, since spendless is a big discount store, even these discount stores won't be able to compete with it. So, the trend will no more be followed.

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

This option is not correlated to the vacant loactions. Alternately, this gives a sense of saying that there will be no vacant places. Kind of Strengthen.

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.

More population then more stores will be handy. We cannot say more population will go to SpendLess.

E. Many stores in the central shopping district sell types of merchandise that are not available at either SpendLess or Colson's.

We can discard this by saying that if the types of merchandise are not avail in SpendLess then other stores have the advantage and the places will not stay vacant. It Strengthens the argument.

The correct answer is B.

I must agree this is one of the toughest CRs till now I have faced. This Argument is very hard to understand. I have done a search in various forums for a proper answer and consolidated as above for better understanding. At least I am able to understand now

Hope this helps.

[prachich1987]

A

No.The correct answer is B

prachich,Which book did u findset22 in ? Princeton Review 1012 ?

no it was frm some random question sheet I downloaded from net

[Target2009]

IMO - B
Colson is a nondiscount department store, what if more discount store open in the area. Hence B.