Hoopers is running circles around its competition. Founded in 1982, the company is a retail store operator with five UK-based department stores nationwide (Harrogate, Torquay, Tunbridge Wells, Wilmslow, Carlisle), as well as three menswear stores. The company specializes in designer and branded fashion. Its departments include womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, cosmetics, gifts, cookware and glassware, and furniture and linens. Hoopers is a partial owner of department store chain Beale through its Lawdene investing subsidiary. The company is owned by father and son team David and Richard Thompson.

GNC is owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Board Plan, its affiliate Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund II, and management. GNC filed to go public in September 2010.What's good for the customer is good for GNC Acquisition Corporation (formerly General Nutrition Centers). GNC operates the world's leading nutritional-supplements retail chain devoted solely to items such as vitamins and dietary products. The company also makes Rite Aid private-label products. It sells its products online, as well, through a partnership with drugstore.com. GNC has 2,800 company-owned retail stores in the US and Canada; 1,900 store-within-a-store sites in Rite Aid's drugstores; and 2,220 franchised stores in 47 countries.

Business at Roofing Wholesale doesn't have to be complicated, but it should be over your head. Roofing Wholesale Company (RWC) distributes residential and commercial roofing, stone flooring, and stucco to contractors, builders, and do-it-yourself home owners through ten locations in Arizona, California, Nevada, and New Mexico. It also operates an online store. Products include asphalt shingles, cedar shakes and shingles, clay tiles, fasteners, marble floors, and slate roofs. John Lisherness, father of current president Harley Lisherness, founded the family-owned company in 1958.

J & R Electronics redefines block party. J & R Electronics Inc. is a leading electronics retailer with 10 specialty electronics shops in the same New York City block. The stores make up one retail megastore, J&R Music and Computer World, which measures more than 300,000 sq. ft. and is known for discount prices and customer service. The firm also operates an in-store shop at Macy's in Herald Square and peddles products through its website. J & R's merchandise includes audio and video products, computers, cameras, software, office products, music, movies, and games. Co-owners Joe and Rachelle Friedman used their wedding money to finance the founding of J & R Electronics in 1971.

Causeway Lumber was founded in 1939 by Col. O. R. Whiddon, grandfather of company president Scott Whiddon. When South Florida residents need to rebuild, they call a contractor, and their contractor might very well call Causeway Lumber. Targeting professional builders as customers, the company manufactures and distributes building materials including hardware, lumber, plywood, reinforcing steel, and roof and floor trusses from stores in Arcadia, Bonita Springs, Fort Lauderdale, and Stuart. Causeway Lumber Company also serves customers in the Caribbean.

General Hardware and Builder's Supply tells you right up front what they do. The company sells architectural and residential hardware and aluminum, steel, and wood doors and frames. Products include hollow metal doors and frames, seven-ply and five-ply architectural wood doors (manufactured by Algoma Hardwoods, Buell Door, Haley Lynden, Pacific Architetural, V.T. Industries, Western Oregon Door), Schlage locks, and Hager hinges.

Founded in 1890 by George H. Bartell Sr., the company is still family owned and operated. In addition to its core commercial operations, Bartell Drug contributes to some 40-plus local and national charities, including the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and Seattle Animal Shelter. If any drugstore chain has a prescription for longevity, it's Bartell Drug Company. The nation's oldest drugstore chain, 120-year-old Bartell Drug offers the usual mixture of prescription drugs, OTC medications, personal care products, and convenience items, as well as electronics such as digital cameras and MP3 players; stores also offer digital photo processing services.

Stein Mart, Inc. operates retail stores that offer fashion merchandise for men and women in the United States. Stein Mart company’s stores provide fashion apparel, accessories, gifts, linens, and shoes. As of January 30, 2010, it operated a chain of 267 retail stores in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Stein Mart, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Founded in 1912, furniture retailer Star Furniture operates 10 stores in Texas (seven in Houston and one each in Austin, Bryan, and San Antonio). The regional chain sells bedroom, dining room, living room, and home office furniture, as well as clocks, home entertainment walls, rugs, and more. Brands include Bernhardt, Broyhill, Howard Miller, Natuzzi, Hooker, Kincaid, Serta, Tempur-Pedic, and Thomasville, among others. The company also carries big screen HD televisions in its home theater department, but does not stock other appliances. Star Furniture is owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

At Carphone Warehouse, "upward mobility" means calling someone while driving uphill. The firm has more than 2,400 stores in Europe that sell mobile phones, contracts, and services. It operates stores under the Carphone Warehouse banner in the UK and The Phone House in eight other European markets, including France and Spain. Carphone Warehouse also sells Internet access to homes in England and Europe and has begun selling laptops, touch phones, and other mobile devices at a new, larger store format called Wireless World. Founded in 1989 by CEO Charles Dunstone and former director David Ross, Carphone Warehouse sold 50% of its retail business in 2008 and spun off its TalkTalk telecom unit in 2010.

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