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This Startup Bought Lord & Taylor. Can It Change the Way We Shop? Online clothing-rental startup Le Tote recently bought Lord & Taylor, and has ambitious plans to reinvent its business. Welcome to the craziest bet in retail.
By Andrew Leonard •
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This year did not start well for brick-and-mortar chains.
In January, Pier 1 Imports announced it was closing up to 450 stores. Later that month, two other prominent retail brands — the high-end audio manufacturer Bose and the paper-goods chain Papyrus — reported their own significant closures. And yet, on the same day that Macy's announced it was laying off 2,000 workers and closing 125 stores, I was arriving at the San Francisco offices of a startup called Le Tote…where a very different kind of thinking was going on.
