MacBeath Hardwood Company was founded in the early 1950s by K.E. MacBeath. This MacBeath doesn't want to get the spot out. MacBeath Hardwood Company specializes in spotted and striped specialty hardwoods from the US, Mexico, Panama, India, Brazil, and several African nations. With wood from its 300,000 board feet-capacity drying kiln, the company makes furniture squares, lumber, veneer, plywood, maple countertops, and specialty products like hand rails, marine plywood, and wood "blanks" to be used for baseball bats. MacBeath has five distribution centers in California, Indiana, and Utah; it also ships large loads worldwide. It also operates an online store.

Kowalski's Markets is struggling to expand while it straps on its leather boxing mitts. The company, which operates about 10 supermarkets in the St. Paul and Minneapolis area of Minnesota, wants to be a heavyweight contender among high-end grocery stores there. However, stiff competition from other grocery chains and discounters have limited Kowalski's share of the Twin Cities market to just under 2%: an eighth-place ranking in the market. Indeed competition led the grocer to close a one-year-old store several years ago. Founded by husband and wife team James and Mary Anne Kowalski as a single supermarket in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1983, the regional grocery chain is still owned and run by the Kowalski family.

Founded in 1963, Leslie's is majority owned by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners. Leslie's Poolmart is the big fish of pool product retailers. The company sells pool and spa chemicals, cleaning and testing equipment, pumps, covers, and recreational items through some 620 stores in some 35 states, mostly in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. The company also sells its products through catalogs and its website. Leslie's makes chlorine tablets and repackages other chemicals to be sold under the Leslie name as well. Pool chemicals, major equipment, and parts account for a majority of the company's sales.

Shoppers in Western Canada in search of everything from cough syrup to computers shop London Drugs. London Drugs Limited company is one of Canada's leading pharmacy chains with 70-plus shops in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. London Drugs sells a mix of traditional drugstore products, as well as general merchandise, and computer and home entertainment equipment from large stores (average size 34,000 sq. ft.). Bucking the trend among Canadian pharmacy operators to grow by acquisition, London Drugs is expanding by building new stores and adding new services, such as in-store postal outlets. Chairman Brandt Louie owns London Drugs through family-owned H.Y. Louie Co.

EDION, which was established in 2002, also generates sales online and through a catalog. Gadget lovers in Japan look to EDION Corporation for a technology and A/C fix. EDION Corporation is one of the country's leading electronics retailers, but it also sells air conditioners, microwave ovens, rice cookers, and washing machines. EDION is a holding company that operates primarily through its handful of subsidiaries. During the past few years, EDION has been expanding its operations in western Japan. EDION Corporation serves customers throughout Japan from more than 1,000 stores that are mostly franchised.

JCPenney, one of America's leading retailers, operates over 1,100 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as one of the largest apparel and home furnishing sites on the Internet, jcp.com. Serving more than half of America’s families each year, JCPenney offers a wide array of private, exclusive and national brands which reflect the Company’s vision to be America’s shopping destination for discovering great styles at compelling prices. Traded as “JCP” on the New York Stock Exchange, the $17.6 billion retailer is transforming its organization to support its Long Range Plan strategies to build a sustainable, profitable enterprise that serves its customers, engages it associates and rewards its shareholders.

Prada USA operates an iconic three-story, 24,000-sq.-ft. "epicenter" store on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. A second similar store, in New York's SoHo neighborhood, was damaged by fire in 2006 but reopened months later. Prada's retail network has expanded significantly in the US in recent years to include shops in Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Illinois. Prada USA represents about a quarter of Prada's worldwide sales. There are probably no "red apple" sales at clothing outlets operated by Prada USA, a branch of Milan-based Prada. Prada USA Corp. sells devilishly stylish upscale apparel, shoes, and accessories for men and women.

Founded in 1984, it is owned by private equity firms Madison Dearborn Partners and Providence Equity Partners. CDW takes more orders than Beetle Bailey. The company offers about 100,000 technology products, including notebook and desktop computers, software, printers, servers, storage devices, networking tools, and accessories. Top brands include Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Sony, ViewSonic, and Xerox, among others. CDW operates a retail store at its corporate headquarters and manages an e-commerce site. It also has a Toronto-based subsidiary that markets computer products to customers across Canada. Almost all of the company's sales come from public-sector clients and private businesses.

Food 4 Less stores average about 56,000 square feet and in addition to deeply discounted groceries sell fresh produce, bakery and dairy items, ethnic foods, and meat to compete against supercenters and warehouse clubs.Food 4 Less Holdings operates about 145 price-impact warehouse stores under the Food 4 Less banner in Southern California, Illinois, Indiana, and Nevada. A division of grocery giant Kroger, the company operates about 80 of Food 4 Less' no- frills stores operate in the crowded Southern California grocery market where it competes with Safeway-owned Vons, Stater Bros., and relative newcomer Wal-Mart Stores, which has set its sights on Southern California for expansion.

Monrovia Nursery Company was founded in 1926 by the aptly named Harry Rosedale. A rose of any color keeps Monrovia Nursery in the black. Monrovia grows more than 20 million container-grown plants in 2,000 varieties at its five nurseries in California, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon. Among its offerings are camellias, conifers, ferns, perennials, rhododendrons, and trees. The company has introduced some 300 exclusive varieties, holding more than 200 patents and trademarks. Monrovia supplies more than 5,000 garden centers with its plants and also crafts topiary forms, including some at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. It has additionally developed more than 40 specialized soil mixtures.

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