ARI Network Services helps the manliest of industries attract smart shoppers. The company markets software for creating electronic parts catalogs and e-commerce websites in industries such as outdoor power equipment, power sports, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, appliances, and agricultural equipment. More than 18,000 dealers, manufacturers, and distributors use its applications. Its PartSmart program allows companies to collect, organize, and maintain product information for their suppliers and dealers, who can access and search the database. In addition, the company's e-commerce and communication applications process orders, product registrations, and warranty claims and perform search engine optimization.

Bradfords Building Supplies Ltd. was founded in 1770 by William Bradford, and today is run by his great, great, great grandson chairman Peter Bradford. From pressboard to brads, and everything in between, Bradfords Building Supplies offers builders things to swing hammers at, with, and on. Operating through about 25 branches in England, Bradfords Building Supplies provides contractors with appliances, bricks, decking, doors, electrical items, insulation, lumber, nails and screws, paint, plumbing and heating fixtures and equipment, roofing, safety wear, tools, and other construction or related materials. Bradfords also offers tool hire at about 10 branches. It also operates a company retail Web site.

Founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman, Barneys New York is owned by an affiliate of Istithmar PJSC, an investment firm owned by the Dubai government. After a tough couple of years for luxury retailers, Barneys has a new leader and is looking to recover. Barneys New York is no purple dinosaur, even if it did have a brush with extinction. The luxury department store chain sells designer apparel for men, women, and children; shoes; accessories; and home furnishings. It operates more than 40 locations including about 10 full-size Barneys New York flagship stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, and other major cities; some 20 smaller Barneys Co-Op shops; and about a dozen outlet stores.

O'Connell Oil operates about 30 Convenience Plus convenience stores and a half a dozen gas stations throughout western Massachusetts, serving customers with Citgo, Mobil, and Shell brand gasoline. Three O'Connell's Heating Oil & Service locations provide heating oil and air conditioner repair services. The company also runs plumbing and industrial lubricant divisions. Namesake Ralph M. O'Connell founded the company in 1925.

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.

Fred Meyer Stores went out for groceries and wound up in Kroger's cart. Freddy's -- as the chain is known -- is a supercenter pioneer providing food and general merchandise to cost-conscious consumers in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. One of the largest supercenter operators in the US (along with Wal-Mart and Costco Wholesale), Fred Meyer's more than 125 multidepartment stores (averaging 155,000 sq. ft.) offer everything from apparel and home goods to groceries, consumer electronics, fuel, and jewelry. Its Web store delivers to the Alaska Bush. Kroger has leveraged Fred Meyer's general merchandising expertise as defense against Wal-Mart, which has overtaken Kroger as the #1 seller of groceries in the US.

Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) is Canada's only nationwide drugstore chain, with locations in every province and two territories. With more than 1,200 drugstores, it's #2 north of the border, behind Katz Group. Most of the company's stores fly the Shoppers Drug Mart banner (Pharmaprix in Quebec). It also operates about 65 Shoppers Home Health Care stores. SDM ranks as a leading Canadian retailer of beauty products, with more than 225 in-store beauty boutiques that sell prestige cosmetics, fragrances, and skin care products. It is expanding in Quebec by opening new stores and acquiring independent pharmacies. The firm was founded in 1962 by Murray Koffler, a Toronto druggist.

The CARQUEST group includes a network of about 40 distribution centers serving more than 3,400 distributor-owned and independent jobbers in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The company sells its own line of auto parts (made by Moog Automotive, Dana, Gates, and others) to the jobbers, as well as wholesalers, for eventual resale to professional repair centers, service stations, dealerships, and, to a lesser degree, do-it-yourself (DIY) customers. Searching for a sensor, solenoid, or switches? CARQUEST can steer you in the right direction. The replacement auto parts distribution group is owned by its member warehouse distributors (the largest is North Carolina-based General Parts).

Cash Converters International makes cash advances in return for used merchandise, including electronics, jewelry, musical instruments, tools, and more, which it resells to the public. The second-hand goods retailer and pawnbroker operates about 500 franchised and company-owned stores in its home country of Australia and another 20 countries worldwide, including Canada, the US, and the UK. The company also offers customers cash advances on their paychecks. Stores operate under the Cash Converters banner. Texas-based EZCORP acquired a 30% stake in the firm in 2009.

Founded in 1990 in Southern California, Genica Corporation provides customers a better way to buy computer products and consumer electronics. At that time, the company's founders saw a significant business opportunity in the excess personal computer and electronics industry. The two entrepreneurs launched their direct computer supply business based on the philosophy that buying low and selling low would be a fruitful business model. A strong commitment to service was included in their philosophy. Today, the company has continued to flourish through reinvestment in its own technology, company resources and ever-expanding product offerings which include items untapped by competitors. Genica Corporation, from its inception, was designed to foster a business culture providing exemplary service through dedicated team members and long-term customer relationships. This strategy has proven to be very successful and remains a key component of Genica Corporation's current mission. Genica Corporation has adopted several industry programs to keep pace with change and stay ahead of its competition.

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