Kmart (Bankruptcy)

Kmart's 2002 bankruptcy—the largest retail failure at that time—exemplifies how organisms caught between ecological niches starve. Neither upscale like Target nor low-cost like Walmart, Kmart occupied the 'mushy middle' where competitive exclusion is most severe. Blue Light Specials couldn't compete with Walmart's everyday low prices or Target's cheap chic. Like a species unable to out-compete specialists in any dimension, Kmart dwindled from 2,100 stores to merger with Sears—itself later bankrupt.