Furniture Store Conundrum

There are many things that bother me about this economic downturn - oddly enough me being unemployed isn't one of them - but there's one thing in particular that's got my head spinning. Why is it that when a furniture store goes out of business, somebody puts another furniture store in exactly the same spot?
   Two blocks up from my house there was a furniture store, right on Colorado, which went out of business about two years ago. The place was empty for a few months, then - BAM! - another furniture store. Three blocks down from that one, near the Carvel ice cream place, a sofa store went out of business, and, sure enough, another one goes in its place.
   There were two - TWO - furniture stores near the gym where I work out, one across the street from the other. You can see them in the first Transformers movie, when Shia Laboef is chasing his yellow car. Anyhoo... earlier this year both stores went out of business within one month of each other, complete with the 'Everything must go!' signs and 'Auction today' signs. And then... you guessed it, one month later there's a furniture store in the exact same place.
   Is this part of an MBA education? If one particular type of business fails, then go ahead and put exactly the same business in exactly the same location? Is this the 'lightning never strikes twice' theory of business? Am I the only one bothered by this? And why does Ikea thrive while real furniture stores tank miserably? What do those Swedes know that we don't?

Don't get me started on the Oriental rug places... jeez, how many rugs can one society purchase?