Now, Positivo makes a wider range of computers costing up to $2000 targeted toward higher-income customers.

The dispute goes back to a time before phone deregulation when the Federal Government required the telephone companies to charge more to higher-income customers so that there was enough money to subsidize the service to the poor.

But executives of the card company, which has higher-income customers, said it recognized a large part of that expense in the third quarter and would post another big piece next quarter as well.

But Block's success in attracting higher-income customers has led critics of the Olde deal to accept it.

Just how Wal-Mart's push for higher-income customers will affect these other chains is not clear.

Wal-Mart is hoping new ad campaigns will help the retailer reach higher-income customers who will stay in the stores to buy more than just household staples like laundry detergent.

But that, Mr. Brennan believed, would not work with higher-income customers.

While many people think of the Gap as a store for Everyman, it has in fact attracted a higher-income customer.

The store is doing this by widening variety and adding brand names that might attract a higher-income customer.

New Players New players have emerged, like the huge hypermarkets that combine food and mass-merchandise retailing and the exclusive stores that cater to higher-income customers.