SolarTown is just up the street from a local independent sporting goods store, which moved in when this area was just making a comeback from years of neglect. The service is good, the product selection is good and the prices are right. These factors should make the store a fixture in the community, but three months ago, a sporting goods chain moved in just a block away at DC USA, the largest retail complex in Washington, DC. The prices for the chain store may be slightly better, but even more than the prices, the location is much better. The small independent store saw its revenue drop by over a half in three months, and as you can see from the picture at the right, it is now going out of business. Oh, how in just a few months, the fortunes of this small store changed. So has been the effect of the tsunami of Chinese manufacturing on the solar industry. In just a couple of years, the Chinese ramped up production, lowered prices and swamped the US and other markets.