Evil Empire?

The past few weeks I have been working out in Tooronga Village (a mere few kilometers from the office, and yet I've passed through 3 suburbs!) at the Global Headquarters for Coles-Myer.

It appears as though Coles-Myer has it's sticky fingers in every single retail pie in Australia. It owns:

Myer (A department store with actual departments. Think Sears Catalogue of the 20's in one location.)
Target (does this need introduction? I think not!)
Coles (Upscale grocery store. Not as upscale as Whole Foods though.)
KMart
Office Works
Liquor Land (again, self explanatory)
Bi-Lo (cheap grocery store)

Up until recently, anyway, when they sold off Myer.
It's like Microsoft, but not ones and zeros.

Is this the same in the US? All I knew was that Target and Mervyn's were the same company until about a year ago (when they wouldn't take my dang gift card!)

Some food for thought I guess.

OK, must be off to learn about the hydrogeology of Melbourne.