Founded in 1922 as a single Phil's Shoes store, Rack Room Shoes is owned by Europe's largest shoe retailer -- Deichmann Schuhe of Germany -- which acquired Rack Room Shoes in 1984. As part of its expansion strategy, the off-price retailer plans to continue opening new stores in the southeastern US; it's focusing specifically on Texas and Arizona. Shoe-a-holics on the hunt for budget-brand names frequent the Rack Room for a fix. Rack Room Shoes sells private-label and brand-name footwear, handbags, and accessories to thrifty customers from some 390 stores in more than 25 states. Rack Room Shoes company also operates some 60 stores under the Off Broadway banner in about 10 states.

Aldo Group Inc. was born with the 1972 opening of four stores by Moroccan founder Aldo Bensadoun. Aldo Group knows the value of cheap chic; heck, its founder practically tripped over the concept. Aldo Group runs about 1,500 shoe stores, including more than 700 under the Aldo banner and another 335 shops under the Spring, Feetfirst, and Globo names, among others. The company has stores in Canada, the US, the UK, and some 50 other countries worldwide. Aldo Group entered the US market in 1993 and has grown to number 475 stores here. Globetrotting Aldo's international sales now outpace its business in Canada. Plans call for more expansion in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the US.

The Officers Club wants its customers to feel more like gentlemen, even if they aren't dressed that way. The company is a discount retailer of men's apparel, including such products as jeanswear, jackets, leatherwear, shoes and accessories, and office attire. Operating under the names The Officers Club, Petroleum Casualwear, and Blakes Menswear, the company has about 150 stores around the UK and sells merchandise through its Web site. The Officers Club recently faced allegations of misleading advertising by Britain's Office of Fair Trading. A pared-down version of the chain remains operational after CEO David Charlton purchased the majority of its assets from administrators in early 2009.

Small Island Trader sells ceramics and crystal objects online to private buyers globally. Its web site contains more than 50,000 items, ranging from Wedgwood china to collectible paperweights and Versace ashtrays and other collectibles. The company secures its merchandise from about 20 leading ceramics manufacturers. Founded in 1997 by husband-and-wife team Alexandra and Jim Murray (managing director and creative director, respectively), the company is still owned by the couple.

he regional grocery chain also operates about a half a dozen larger Smith's Marketplace stores (154,000 sq. ft. on average) in Utah that combine full-service grocery, pharmacy, and general merchandise departments. Smith's joined the Kroger family when Kroger, the 1 US grocer, bought its parent, Fred Meyer, in 1999.From a small grocery store founded by Ren Smith in Brigham City, Utah, Smith's Food & Drug Centers has grown into a regional powerhouse with supermarkets in Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, and four other western states. Most of its 130-plus stores are conventional supermarkets with in-store pharmacy departments and many offering bakeries, one-hour photo labs, and other services.

Kelly Pipe was founded in 1898 by an entrepreneur who is now known to history only as Old Man Kelly. Kelly Pipe helps keep the Earth green. Operating through some 15 branches and 20-plus stocking locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, Kelly Pipe is a leading distributor of steel and plastic pipes, valves, and fittings from manufacturers worldwide. It also operates a subsidiaries in Mexico and the UK. Customers include the agriculture, oil processing, water service, and other industries. The company's Imperial Poles division distributes poles for street lighting, traffic signals, cellular towers, signs, and other purposes.

Steinhoff UK Retail wants it customers to fill their homes with furniture with its help. Formerly named Homestyle Group until 2007, the company is one of Britain's largest furniture retailers. Its furniture division, Harveys Furnishing Group, operates about 170 Harveys: The Furniture Store shops throughout the UK. Its beds division operates Bensons Beds (the UK's largest bed retailer with 220 stores and 15,000 branded beds), Bed Shed (more than 50 stores primarily in Scotland), and Sleepmasters (with nearly 120 retail sites in the UK). Steinhoff Europe AG, a subsidiary of Steinhoff International Holdings (SIH), took the company private in 2007.

Borders Group runs more than 500 Borders superstores in about 45 states and Puerto Rico, as well as about 175 small-format shops under the Waldenbooks, Borders Express, and Borders Outlet banners. Its bookstores offer up to 170,000 book, music, and movie titles and regularly host live literary events and musician showcases to attract customers. The chain also peddles products via its website. Faced with declining sales due to the ailing book business, Borders sold its Paperchase stationery and gift business in the UK in 2010.

E-Z Mart Stores founder Jim Yates kept his first convenience store in Ashdown, Arkansas, open until 11. The company now boasts 300 outlets across five southern states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas). Rather than build its own stores, the company usually expands through acquisitions. In addition to the standard hot dogs, chips, sodas, and cigarettes, most E-Z Mart locations also offer Shell, Conoco, Phillips 66, or CITGO gasoline. Yates died in late 1998 when the plane he was piloting crashed, leaving his daughter Sonja Hubbard at the company's helm as CEO.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the world's largest luxury goods company, with brands that are bywords for the good life and everything showy. LVMH makes wines and spirits (Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, and Hennessy), perfumes (Christian Dior, Guerlain, and Givenchy), cosmetics (Bliss, Fresh, and BeneFit), fashion and leather goods (Donna Karan, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Louis Vuitton), and watches and jewelry (TAG Heuer, Ebel, Chaumet, and Fred). LVMH's selective retail division includes Sephora cosmetics stores, Le Bon Marche Paris department stores, and 61% of DFS Group (duty-free shops). Chairman Bernard Arnault and his family, through Groupe Arnault, own about 47% of LVMH.

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