Lament and hope as two foreign retail brands call it quits

IT started innocently enough.

My editor had spotted an ad in the papers that said Jones the Grocer (JTG) was putting its stores up for sale. What followed was unexpected: With little prodding required, the seemingly successful Aussie gourmet food chain rapidly unravelled into layers of long-hidden issues in my hands. It took three days of calls and follow-ups to digest all the shards.

What a pity, was the reaction I received most often after the story had gone viral. Everyone from colleagues and former classmates to CEOs and top legal eagles had a personal memory to relate on how they'd spent many a weekend languishing over brunch or toting home hard-to-find imported chocolates and premium cheeses from JTG. It was a brand that almost everyone was familiar with.