"This Is a Robbery in Progress"

"Private equity firms borrow massively to buy companies, and use corporate cash reserves to pay themselves back. Workers who supply the value to the business see nothing; in fact, to service the debt, companies usually cut staff. When the retailer collapses under the borrowing weight, all workers lose their jobs. And even when sales go up, like they have by 5 percent annually in the toy sector over the past five years, dominant toy sellers like Toys"R"Us cannot compete because of the debt burden. The company's profitability was increasing when it filed for bankruptcy."

David Dayen at the New Republic argues that the retail "apocalypse didn’t have to happen."

And Derek Thompson at The Atlantic discusses the rise of "bricks-and-clicks" stores