Founded in 1998, Service Partners acquired some 40 businesses before being purchased itself by Masco in 2002. If you can't stand the heat, try getting better insulation from Service Partners. Through some 55 centers in about 30 states, the firm is a leading distributor of residential fiberglass insulation and related products, including fireplaces, roofing, gutters, shelving, drywall, and acoustical ceiling material. Contractors and home improvement retailers are Service Partners' primary customers. It also runs more than a dozen laminating facilities that produce insulation for use in prefabricated buildings, as well as a training center where contractors learn how to install the company's products.

GN Hello Direct, Inc. was acquired in 2000 by GN Netcom, a Denmark-based maker of hands-free telecom equipment. Ah, the poetic justice GN Hello Direct delivers. The company sells telephones and accessories (including headsets and amplifiers) to small and midsized businesses and the very telemarketers who ring you just when dinner is served. It also sells the phones that screen those annoying telemarketer calls, as well as recording, distance-conferencing, mobile navigation, and VoIP products. More than 50 major brands are represented in the firm's inventory, including AT&T, Panasonic, and Motorola, plus its own Hello Direct and GN Netcom labels. Products are sold through GN Hello Direct's catalog and website.

Blish-Mize Co. has distribution centers in Colorado and Kansas. Aside from its wholesaling business, Blish-Mize operates toolmaker Hardware House with House-Hasson. Brothers-in-law David Blish, Edward Mize, and Jack Silliman founded the firm in 1871 to outfit wagon trains. President and CEO John Mize, Jr., represents the fourth generation of the family-owned company. Hardware supplier Blish-Mize distributes more than 52,000 products to hardware stores, home centers, lumberyards, and paint stores in a dozen states in the heartland of the US. Its catalog includes hand and power tools, lawn equipment, hardware, paint, heating and cooling products, housewares, plumbing and electrical supplies, and sporting goods.

Bi-Mart Corporation retailer operates about 70 general merchandise membership stores throughout Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.(About 20 are in the Portland area.) Just $5 buys a lifetime membership to the deep-discount chain, which has enrolled more than 1 million members to date. Stores offer automotive departments, clothing and shoes, food and alcohol, housewares, full-service pharmacies, and photo departments, with a focus on national brands. A pioneer in membership-based retail, Bi-Mart was started in 1955 by a group of investors in Yakima, Washington. The firm was bought by CEO Marty Smith and other senior managers from Rite Aid Corp. in 1997. Today, the company is employee-owned.

Super A Foods, owned and operated by the Amen family, was founded by its chairman and CEO Louis Amen in 1971.Faster than a speeding shopping cart. More powerful a manager's page. Able to scan grocery items in a single swipe. It's Super A! Super A Foods operates about a dozen grocery stores in and around Los Angeles that cater to Latino and Asian customers. The local supermarket operator offers groceries, bakery and deli items, meat, frozen foods, and fresh produce, as well as beer and wine.

Casual Living and Patio Center is an outdoor furniture retailer. Through its four locations in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, the company offers a wide selection of patio furniture, such as ergonomically designed steel seating, rattan lounges, and sets featuring stone and patterned tabletops. It also carries gas grills, fireplaces, fire screens (including glass and custom-made sets), and faux logs. Stores also offer custom orders and statewide delivery services.

The Gap, Inc. operates as a specialty retailing company. The company offers clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, children, and babies under the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, and Athleta brand names. Its products include wardrobe basics, such as denim, khakis, and T-shirts; fashion apparel; casual apparel and accessories; maternity apparel; women’s underwear, sleepwear, loungewear, and sports and active apparel; and shoes and accessories. The company also franchises agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap and Banana Republic stores worldwide. As of March 24, 2010, it operated approximately 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, and Ireland. The Gap also offers its products through catalogs, as well as gap.com, bananarepublic.com, oldnavy.com, piperlime.com, and athleta.com Web sites. The Gap, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Bevo is the largest supplier of propagated plants in North America, providing greenhouses, field farms, nurseries, and wholesalers across the continent with healthy, vigorous, pest-and-disease-free plants. Plant propagation is a system under which seedlings are nurtured to the ideal level of development for finished growth in greenhouses. Each seedling is cultivated in a specific controlled temperature, nutrient, fertilizer, light and moisture environment to ensure the highest quality plant. Bevo's main products are vegetable plants such as tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and cucumbers, along with other plants such as bedding plants, flowers, trees, berries, and grasses. Bevo markets its products to established greenhouse growers, farms and nurseries throughout North America. Since incorporation in 1989, planned expansions have grown the Bevo propagation greenhouses in Langley, BC to the present 34 acres. As greenhouse growth and consumer demand for quality products continues so does the requirement for new vegetable, flower and other plants. The use of greenhouses to grow vegetables and flowering plants continues to increase.

ecohaus wants to improve on the home improvement store. The company offers some 1,500 eco-friendly building materials and products. It operates an online store for its green building supplies, as well as a pair of showrooms in Washington and Oregon for retail customers and trade professionals. Both showrooms were remodeled in 2008. ecohaus's products include reclaimed wood flooring, low-toxic paints, low-flow toilets, formaldehyde-free cabinets, and recycled-glass tiles. Matthew Freeman-Gleason, the company's chief knowledge officer, started the firm as a small storefront in 1992 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Freeman-Gleason and chairman Tim Taylor are major shareholders of the company.

Victoria's Secret is not hush-hush, but it is unmentionable(s). The largest subsidiary of Limited Brands (based on sales) is also North America's #1 specialty retailer of women's intimate apparel, operating about 1,040 mostly mall-based Victoria's Secret and 250-plus La Senza lingerie stores throughout the US and Canada. Bras, panties, hosiery, swimwear, shoes, and more are sold under the Victoria's Secret brand and grouped in collections such as Dream Angels and Very Sexy. Many Victoria's Secret lingerie stores also sell beauty products. Its sister company Victoria's Secret Direct mails about 400 million of its sexy catalogs per year, offering intimate apparel, women's clothing, and footwear.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.