Axfood gives the chilly Nordic region the Willys. Axfood AB is one of the largest food retailers in Sweden (behind ICA and Coop),operating about 110 wholly owned Willys (discount grocery stores),30-plus Willys hemma (neighborhood grocers),and some 165 Hemkp (upscale grocery stores for food enthusiasts) stores. Axfood also operates shops under the Handlar'n and Tempo banners. Its Axfood Narlivs unit is a nationwide wholesaler serving convenience store retailers, restaurants, and foodservice companies through about 20 cash and carry outlets and several distribution centers. Subsidiary Dagab serves as Axfood AB company's logistics arm. Swedish food importer and retailer Axel Johnson owns about 46% of Axfood.

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.

In France the company operates Pro à Pro Distribution, which supplies foodservice operations, and the Coccinelle and Colruyt retail chains.Colruyt and its subsidiaries carry names that are well-known in Belgium and France. The company retails or distributes a wide variety of consumer home and office products, groceries, and computer equipment and services. In Belgium, Colruyt operates some 240 discount supermarkets under the Colruyt and OKay banners, as well as more than 2,300 BIO-planet organic food stores. It also supplies independently-owned SPAR supermarkets with food. The retail group also operates the DreamLand chain of toy and baby product stores, as well as convenience retail stores and gas stations.

Co-op is Britain's largest funeral service provider. Established in 1863, Co-operative Group boasts 5.5 million members.Co-operative Group cares for its customers from the cradle to the grave. The hodgepodge of businesses run by the world's largest cooperative society includes farming, food and drug stores, travel agencies, banking, insurance, financial and legal services, and funerals. It's the UK's largest commercial farming operation and its fifth-largest grocery retailer with some 3,000 food stores. Overall, it operates about 4,800 outlets on high streets throughout the UK. Financial services include insurance, investment and retirement planning, as well as traditional and online banking.

Harvey Nichols is an international luxury lifestyle store, renowned both in the UK and internationally for the breadth and depth of its exclusive fashion merchandise. It offers many of the world's most prestigious brands in womenswear, menswear, accessories, beauty, food and home.Harvey Nichols currently has stores in London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leeds in the UK, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, a store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Hong Kong, China, in Dubai, UAE, Istanbul, Turkey, Jakarta, Indonesia and and a further store in Ankara, Turkey. The London flagship store is located in the heart of Knightsbridge, London's most fashionable and exclusive shopping district.

QVC (its name stands for "quality, value, and convenience") offers about 1,150 items each week to TV-tied shopping addicts. Merchandise includes apparel, cosmetics, electronics, housewares, jewelry, and toys. It broadcasts 24 hours a day; viewers call in their orders to one of its five call centers. If you can't find what you're shopping for on the tube, it also sells online and through five outlet stores plus a full-line store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The company also has shopping channels in Germany, Japan, and the UK. QVC is a subsidiary of Liberty Interactive Group, which is owned by Liberty Media.

It was founded in 1913 by W.S. Cowling, Sr. Dixieline ProBuild (formerly Dixieline Lumber & Home Centers) operates in the deep south of California. The company, owned by Pro-Build Holdings, serves do-it-yourselfers, contractors, and remodelers through about a dozen lumberyard-home centers in the San Diego area. Each location is stocked with 35,000 SKUs, a lumber dock, and in-store door and window showrooms as well as kitchen and bath design centers. It also operates a facility for making trusses, milling, and remanufacturing. The business brings lumber to the West Coast through a dock facility in Oregon, and it also distributes structural lumber and framing and sheathing materials.

Great Harvest Franchising acquired Montana Mills from doughnut-maker Krispy Kreme in 2005. The six-store bakery chain in upstate New York was converted to Great Harvest locations in early 2006. Founded by Pete and Laura Wakeman in 1978, Great Harvest was sold in 2001 to a group of North Carolina investors, including Mike Ferretti, who became CEO.Great Harvest Franchising (dba Great Harvest Bread Company) helps entrepreneurs not only bake bread but earn it. The company franchises its name and baking techniques to more than 210 bakeries in some 40 US states. In exchange for sending 7% of their sales to Great Harvest, owners receive bread recipes, baking techniques, and advice about accounting and store design.

Established in 1953, Damartex opened its first store in Paris four years later. Today it operates about 140 stores (under the name Damart), primarily in France and Belgium. France accounts for nearly two-thirds of Damartex company's sales. Damartex also sells its products via mail order and its Web site. Damartex may not be tres chic with the youngsters, but it is hip to the older generation. Damartex uses thermolactyl fiber to make undergarments, men's and women's apparel, sleepwear, socks and hosiery, and accessories (scarves and footwear), which it sells to the growing senior-citizen market. Its thermal pieces are also marketed to snow skiers.

Food Emporium offers free delivery with $50 purchases (with some restrictions). The Food Emporium's store count has slipped as its stores in New York State and Connecticut have been converted to other A&P banners.The Food Emporium operates about 15 upscale supermarkets in densely-populated Manhattan and a store in Connecticut. A division of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2010, Food Emporium stores are small (8,000 to 17,000 square feet). The grocery chain also operates an online shopping service (www.thefoodemporium.com), offering pick up and home delivery service to shoppers in 33 ZIP codes in Manhattan, where it competes with Internet grocer FreshDirect

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