Esselunga is owned by Supermarkets Italiani S.p.A., and controlled by its founder and chairman Bernardo Caprotti and family.Esselunga is a leading Italian grocery store chain, with about 130 supermarkets and superstores, or hypermarkets, throughout northern Italy. The company also had real estate assets which it hived off into a separate company, La Villata S.p.A., in 2005. The Italian grocery chain has long been rumored to be a takeover target of foreign retailers because it operates in some of the richest regions in Italy. The company has been busy opening new stores and remodeling existing locations. Founded in 1957.

SOK is made up of about 35 independent regional cooperative societies that produce the group's services. Food and grocery account for half of SOK's overall business its market brands include ABC!, Alepa, Prisma, S Market, and Sale. The group was founded in 1904.Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta (SOK Corporation) knows a thing or two (or 1,500) about retail. The Finnish group is active in grocery, combination convenience store/gas station, department store, specialty goods, hotel and restaurant, auto trade, and hardware services via 1,590 locations in its home country, throughout the Baltic nations, and Russia.

Rite Aid Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates retail drugstores in the United States. Rite Aid Corporation company’s drugstores primarily offer pharmacy services. It provides prescription drugs and front end products, which include over-the-counter medications, health and beauty aids, personal care items, cosmetics, household items, beverages, convenience foods, greeting cards, seasonal merchandise, and various other everyday and convenience products, as well as photo processing products. The company sells its products under the Rite Aid brand. It offers its products to customers covered by third party payors, such as insurance companies, prescription benefit management companies, government agencies, private employers or other managed care providers. As of February 27, 2010, Rite Aid Corporation operated 4,780 retail drugstores in 31 states, as well as in the District of Columbia. It has a strategic alliance with GNC to operate GNC stores within Rite Aid stores. Rite Aid Corporation was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Tacony manufactures and distributes products in four business areas: sewing, home floor care, commercial floor care, and ceiling fans and lighting from about 10 distribution centers in the US. Tacony company's offerings bear such brands as Baby Lock (sergers and sewing machines), Koala Studios (sewing and craft furniture), Powr-Flite (janitorial equipment), Regency (ceiling fans and lighting), Riccar (vacuum cleaners), and Simplicity (vacuum cleaners). It also runs the Vacuum Cleaner Museum and Factory Outlet, which opened in 2009, in St. James, Missouri. Still a family-owned business, Nick Tacony, father of president Ken Tacony, founded Tacony company in 1946.

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.

Joe and Mike Zeiden founded Z Gallerie in 1979, using their parents' garage for a warehouse and production facility. Initially Z Gallerie (later joined by sister Carole Malfatti) sold poster art, but in the 1980s the trio added home furnishings and accessories to the merchandising mix. Today Z Gallerie stores, which span some 10,000 sq. ft. on average, feature bedding and pillows, dinnerware, glassware, rugs, lamps, candleholders, clocks, frames and albums, games, and gifts. The firm's eclectic pieces are sold through its website and some 55 US retail locations in nearly 20 states. Z Gallerie exited Chapter 11 in fall 2009 after a six-month stint in bankruptcy.

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates department stores in the mid-size and metropolitan markets of the United States. Its stores offer brand-name apparel and accessories for women, men, and children, as well as provide cosmetics, home furnishings, footwear, intimate apparel, and juniors' apparel. As of January 30, 2010, the company operated 278 stores under various nameplates, including the Bon-Ton, Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's, and Younkers in 23 northeastern, midwestern, and upper Great Plains states; and under the Parisian nameplate in Detroit, Michigan.

Gabriel Brothers sells discounted brand-name clothing through more than 100 stores, under the Gabriel Brothers (commonly called "Gabes") and Rugged Wearhouse banners. Stores are located in about a dozen East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states. The company's offerings include men's, women's, and children's apparel and footwear, as well as housewares, with markdowns as high as 70% off of their original retail prices. It carries such brands as Anne Klein, Kenneth Cole, and Liz Claiborne. The family-run company was established in 1961 by James and Arthur Gabriel.

United Dairy Farmers (UDF) changed the way Cincinnati bought its milk. UDF -- which buys milk from area dairy farmers, then processes and packages it for sale in its stores -- has grown into a chain of about 200 convenience stores, mostly in Ohio, but also in Kentucky and Indiana. The company, still owned and run by the Lindner family, sells its own milk products, its Homemade brand ice cream and sherbet, coffee, and a variety of other food products at its stores. UDF locations also offer in-store ice cream parlors and sell Mobil brand gasoline.

In Germany a trip to the corner drugstore is often a trip to Anton Schlecker. Fa. Anton Schlecker company is Germany's largest drugstore operator with about 10,650 discount retail outlets there. It also operates another 3,300 stores in about a dozen countries in Europe, including Austria, France, Italy, Poland, and Spain. Schlecker stores stock more than 4,000 product lines, including branded and private-label items. The shops also feature over-the-counter drugs, cosmetics, baby products, tobacco, photo services, and more. It is owned by German billionaire Anton Schlecker, who opened his first drugstore in 1975.

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