New York CNN — In the 1980s, a new type of specialty retail chain started to emerge: “category killers.” The stores’ powerhouse business model was aimed at giving shoppers access to every different size, style and color of a product imaginable – all in one place and at reduced prices. Category killers, which began to dominate entire merchandise categories, opened stores typically under 50,000 square feet – bigger than independent shops but smaller than Walmart superstores – in strip mall centers all over the suburbs. Shoppers embraced these overstuffed emporiums. Staples is “a classic ‘category killer,’ like Toys R Us,”...