What does how their store looks got anything to do with the management decision on how best to deploy their capital. A business decision is based on how they look at increasing market share, profits, return on investment. Why do you think the present Times owners are selling out. It's because they feel they can get better return on their money selling out. Walmart don't consider beauty of their stores to be highly pertinent to their success, nor does Costco. Dahhh......