The Haft Rivalry rides herd on the Internet!
Now it has extended to the Web in a very competitive Arena!

Yup, the "boys with the pompadour haircuts" are at it again.  They used to play
"darts" in the form of Dart Group, their corporate battleground.  That mess
ended up in the 90's wrecking the Dart Group and its subsidiary empire including:
Dart Drugstores, Crown Books, and the Trak Auto Parts supply stores! The
father and his "disowned, estranged" son are perpetually engaged in endless
one-upmanship tactics.  Too bad, there was something wonderful that could have
happened big-time in terms of a father-son relationship.  It could have been great, 
their corporate talents could have led them to unbelievable prosperity and satisfaction!
Alas they choose to pull part for good, maybe due to Herbert's internal struggle with
his famously titanic ego!   The beat goes on..  this time, the playing field is the huge wide
open cyberspaces of the www!!  They are taking it to us online!  Now I'll cut to the chase
and take you to their new worlds they have chosen to coexist in, although at a distance: 

The Players:

 
        Robert Haft

1. Mr. Robert Haft, aged 47, the "Son". His new website is into "drugs and 
    medicine" making a pretty good income: presently forecast to reach $40 million! 
    His web home I'll call "exhibit 1":  Vitamins.com.     His approach? I like it. 
    Very friendly, forthright, committed, and a reasonably short, yet effective disclaimer
    and copyright notice which is tucked nicely at the bottom of "about us" section of
    his site! And this page has a photo even of his "team"!  I vote that this site be the
    "protagonist" side of the Haft Drama!  More info on his side of the equation:
    Mr Robert Haft took over the Phar-Mor company in 1995, and took it out of
    a bankruptcy reorganization and has extended it to e-commerce as well.

Now that I've selected for you the protagonist, its time to meet the antagonist:

        
CNBC Photo                                                       Ron Coddington, KRT Photo/Caricature sample

2. Mr Herbert Haft, aged 78, who I will call the "Poppa".  His new website just
    happens to show up right after the launch of the son's site, although "Poppa" 
    denies that he was copying his boy's strategy for web implementation.  "Poppa" 
    Haft's site, which I will call exhibit #2: Healthquick.com  Now things will get
    interesting. "Poppa" Haft" really, really, really is trying to keep out of lawsuit
    country with one of the biggest, "airtight" website legal mumbo-jumbo user
    agreement notices and disclaimers I have seen:  Check out this Disclaimer page!!

    That's not all, look at "Poppa" Haft's home page once again. See where it says
    "Never Never Undersold"??? and: "We undersell AARP, GNC, and all Online
    and chain drugstores by up to 50%"!!!!!!!  How can he do that and stay in business?
    We are told that "Poppa" outsources all of his operations to a company called
    Sales-Link, a unit of CMGI Inc.  Also we are told no Rx work is done on the
    Healthquick site due to the hassles and costs of doing this business.  I'll tell you
    what, the internet drug and medical fields are expanding tremendously!!  I don't
    give this player much odds under these conditions, given his "undersell" or "give
    back 150% policy" made on his website. Time will tell!

Source: The Cleveland Plain Dealer, whose source in this case was Mr James F. Peltz
              of the LA Times.  Stop by and check the "LA Times" out, they can point out
              some really neat things in the news!  

I've been watching this feud for a while; 
This chapter of their feud as described above will be interesting :)

BTW, here's an interesting relevant definition:
haft , n. 
1. a handle, esp. of a knife, sword, or dagger.  v.t. 
2. to furnish with a haft or handle; set in a haft.