Indeed, some saw a silver lining for Wal-Mart and other discount merchants in the cloud of higher gas prices.

But the goal of 1989 will be to fill the mall with a few large discount merchants such as Toys-R-Us.

"These stores are in areas that have large population bases that are basically underserved by discount merchants," said Gary Vasques, a spokesman for Caldor's.

From T-shirts to curtains to lawn mowers to patio furniture, Americans continued their love affair with discount merchants.

Caldor and Bradlees Inc., another discount merchant currently in Chapter 11, flirted at the end of the last year with a merger, but were stymied in bankruptcy court.

Most of them came to us from variety stores, and they turned into the greatest bunch of discount merchants anybody ever saw.

So I say, 'Well, welcome to the fraternity of discount merchants.

For one thing, while other discount merchants have picked up newly frugal customers, Kmart has been largely left in the cold.

Specifically he wanted to be a discount merchant, a relatively new idea in retail business.

Increasingly, developers see discount merchants as more logical anchors for malls.