Founded in 1977, Uniprix is a growing alliance of independent pharmacy operators who together own Uniprix company. Uniprix has vaulted into the #1 spot in the Quebec drugstore market (ahead of rival Jean Coutu). The chain operates about 390 drugstores under the Uniprix, Unipharm, Uniclinique, and Clinique Sante banners. (With about 360 pharmacies, Jean Coutu is still Quebec's largest chain by revenue.) Drugstores flying the Uniprix banner account for more than half of the company's locations. Many Uniprix locations are superstores averaging 7,500 sq. ft. Unipharm outlets are mid-size neighborhood shops, while Unipharm and Uniclinique are smaller pharmacies adjacent to medical centers and seniors' residences.

Menard is owned by president and CEO John Menard, who founded the company in 1972. If sticks and stones break bones, what can two-by-fours and two-inch nails do? That is what Menard is wondering now that its biggest rivals (#1 home improvement giant The Home Depot and #2 Lowe's) are hammering away at its home turf. One of the largest home improvement chains in the Midwest, Menard has more than 250 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The stores sell home improvement products, such as floor coverings, hardware, millwork, paint, and tools. Unlike competitors, all the company's stores have full-service lumberyards.

Acting as a holding company for subsidiaries The Brick Warehouse LP (dba The Brick) and United Furniture Warehouse, The Brick Group was founded to take Canada's biggest furniture business public. Other retail banners include The Brick Superstore, Urban Brick, and the unfortunately-named The Brick Mattress Store. Together the five chains offer furniture, mattresses, appliances, and consumer electronics through about 235 retail furniture stores (about 50 are franchise locations) across Canada and the company's Web site, catering to low-, middle-, and high-end consumers. The Brick Group began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2004.

Lansing Building Products was founded in 1955 by Ted Lansing, J.C. Griffith, and J.C. McLane. Film icon Woody Allen can keep Interiors; just leave the exteriors to Lansing. Lansing Building Products provides contractors located mostly in the Southeastern US with exterior building products, including decking, doors, gutters, roofing, siding, skylights, tools and equipment, vinyl railing, windows, and other building materials. It serves its contractor clients through some 65 locations in about 25 states plus Washington DC. Besides products, the company offers marketing services, Web site development and hosting, and complimentary safety consultations.

Tastefully Simple boasts more than 28,000 sales representatives in all 50 US states, and it buys its products from specialty food vendors. Jill Blashack Strahan and Joani Nielson founded the company in 1995. CEO Blashack Strahan owns about 70% of Tastefully Simple.Taste buds get the Tupperware treatment at Tastefully Simple. The company promotes its line of gourmet soups, dips, desserts, and convenience foods through in-home parties where attendees can taste products among friends and family prior to purchasing them. Its standard food items range in price from about $5 for beer bread mix to more than $40 for large gift packs. Many items are ready-to-eat, while others require only one or two extra ingredients.

PharMerica Corporation operates as an institutional pharmacy services company in the United States. It offers services to healthcare facilities and provides management pharmacy services to hospitals. The company purchases, repackages, and dispenses prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals in accordance with physician orders and delivers such medication to healthcare facilities for administration to individual patients and residents. PharMerica Corporation also provides pharmacy products and services to residents and patients in skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and other long-term alternative care settings. In addition, it offers consultant pharmacist services for customers to comply with the federal and state regulations applicable to nursing homes. Further, PharMerica Corporation offers various ancillary services, such as infusion therapy products and services; and hospital pharmacy management services, including hospital pharmacy operations, regulatory and financial management services, and clinical pharmacy programs to various hospitals. As of December 31, 2009, it operated 98 institutional pharmacies in 41 states and provided pharmacy management services to 86 hospitals. PharMerica Corporation is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. PharMerica Corporation (NYSE: PMC) operates independently of Kindred Healthcare Inc. and Amerisourcebergen Corp. as of August 1, 2007.

Laura Ashley Holdings, once famous for its fancy floral print fashions, Laura Ashley Holdings has turned to furniture, home accessories, and decor (about 78% of sales) to fill the till. Of the company's some 230 UK shops, less than half carry its traditional product line of women's and children's clothing. The company has repositioned itself as a lifestyle brand that is largely home furnishings, as it has shuttered apparel and accessories stores. Also, to efficiently sell off excess inventory, the company opened a few outlet stores and has implemented a selling strategy at its stores to maximize sales per square footage.

The George T. Sanders Co. is in the plumbing and heating supply business. Our primary customers are plumbing, heating, and mechanical contractors. The geographic territory we presently cover includes the major population centers in the state of Colorado. Although we are a small and closely held company, the George T. Sanders Co. is a member of the Affiliated Distributors (A-D) group of companies. A-D is a buying cooperative and is also an excellent resource for technical, business, and other issues which are of common concern to other companies like the George T. Sanders Company around the United States.

Russell Sigler has built a business providing a cool service in a hot region. Through about 10 locations in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and West Texas, the company provides commercial and residential air conditioning contractors with equipment, parts, supplies, and technical support. Its brands include Carrier and Bryant. Russell Sigler has distributed Carrier products for about 60 years. The company also operates a residential and commercial distribution joint venture with Carrier; Russell Sigler owns a 60% stake while Carrier holds 40%. Chairman and CEO Russ Sigler founded his namesake company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1950. His son, Jack Sigler, serves as the firm's president.

Brookshire's stores average about 40,000 sq. ft., while its warehouse-style Super 1 Foods stores average 80,000 sq. ft. More than 110 of Brookshire Grocery's stores have pharmacy departments. Originally part of the Brookshire Brothers grocery chain (dating back to 1921), the company split from it in 1939. By selling staples, specialties, and Southern hospitality, Brookshire Grocery Co. has grown into a chain of about 155 Brookshire's, Super 1 Food, Olé Foods, and ALPS supermarkets in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The company also owns three distribution centers, a dairy, and BGC Manufacturing, its private label manufacturing unit.

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