1 What decisions must be made in order to open this retail outlet? Computer Town, Inc. was formed by five recent graduates of Duke University's M.B.A. program. All of the group members were computer engineers or programmers as un- dergraduates, so each of them was experienced with computers. Their objective was to open a profitable retail store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a town of approxi- mately 132.000 people. Since three of the founders came from the Winston-Salem area. the group felt it would be beneficial to locate the store there. Computer Town would stock both hardware and software. According to Renee Scott, one of the store's founders, "We'll sell anything related to a computer-monitors, printers, software, floppy disks. You name it, we'll sell it." The group decided to locate Computer Town in a shopping center. Four malls were being considered, two located in the suburbs and two in downtown Winston-Salem. "Our goal is to be open within six months," said Scott, "but now, our foremost con- cern is to research all aspects of our entry into the retail computer market."