Ports International was founded in 1961 by Luke Tanabe and sold to the family of current chief executive Alfred Chan in 1989. Ports Design has carved out a place in China's collective fashion consciousness. Ports Design Limited company designs, manufactures, and sells upscale clothing and accessories under the Ports International and BMW Lifestyle brands. Primarily serving China and Hong Kong, the company's Ports International retail chain sell menswear and womenswear through 300 stores in 55 Chinese cities. Ports Design Limited company also sells sporty casual wear through almost 30 BMW Lifestyle stores (BMW licensed Ports Design Limited company to make and sell branded products in China).

Pottery Barn, Inc. sells casual home furnishings and accessories, such as sofas, tables, bedding, and tableware, at nearly 200 stores across the US and Canada. Pottery Barn also sells its wares by catalog and online. In 1999 the retailer launched Pottery Barn Kids, which operates retail stores and a separate Web site. Pottery Barn launched another specialty brand in 2003, PBTeen, which sells merchandise through catalogs, a Web site, and stores. Pottery Barn, which has roots that go back to 1949, is owned by home furniture and cookware retailer Williams-Sonoma.

Sleepy's, Inc. operates more than 700 stores, mostly in New York and New Jersey, but also in about 10 other eastern states. Some of the stores have Sleepy's Kids concessions inside. Sleepy's outlets sell the mattresses and box springs of more than a dozen major manufacturers, including Simmons, Sealy, and Serta, as well as brass, iron, and motorized beds. The firm offers low-price guarantees, delivery, and other services, and it sells products throughout the US by phone. Sleepy's acquired the mattress.com domain name and 1-800-Mattress telephone network in 2009. Chairman Harry Acker, who founded the firm in 1957, owns Sleepy's.

American Home operates three (down from a dozen in 2007) furniture and housewares stores in New Mexico under the American Home banner. Its products include mostly mid-priced (but some upscale) home furnishings (Kemp, Hillcraft, Natuzzi, DeCoro), lamps, bedding (Sealy, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic), rugs, dinnerware, related accessories, and gift registry and interior design services. Founded in 1936 as American Furniture Company by Emanuel Blaugrund, the company changed its name to American Home in 2000. The furniture retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2010 after closing most of its stores, including all of its locations in Arizona.

Body Central Acquisition Corp. engages in the retail of apparel and accessories for women in their late teens and twenties from various cultural backgrounds in the United States. The company operates specialty stores under the Body Central and Body Shop banners, as well as a direct business comprising its Body Central catalog and its e-commerce Web site at bodyc.com. Its stores feature an assortment of tops, dresses, bottoms, jewelry, accessories, and shoes sold primarily under its Body Central and Lipstick labels. As of June 20, 2010, Body Central Acquisition Corp. had 197 stores located in fashion retail venues in 23 states in the south, mid-atlantic, and midwest. Body Central Acquisition Corp. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg founded the employee-owned firm in 1930. It takes its name from a combination of its founders' names.Give Hy-Vee a high five for being one of the largest privately owned US supermarket chains, despite serving some modestly sized towns in the Midwest. The company runs more than 200 Hy-Vee supermarkets in eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. About half of its stores are in Iowa, as are most of its two dozen Hy-Vee drugstores. It distributes products to its stores through several subsidiaries, including Lomar Distributing (specialty foods) and Perishable Distributors of Iowa (fresh foods).

Plaid Pantries operates more than 100 convenience stores under the Plaid Pantry banner in Oregon and Washington. Many of the shops offer in-store Subway and Taco Bell outlets, as well as gas and automatic check-cashing machines. After years of selling its own brand of gas (Plaid-Plus), the regional convenience store chain has switched to offering branded gas (ConocoPhillips and Shell) at its stores that sell fuel. Plaid Pantries got its start in 1960 and got its name, courtesy of founder John Piacentini, from the red-and-white checkered design then featured in all of its locations.

Louis Williams & Sons, founded in 1928, is owned by president Dan Williams. If you buy a used mobile home, need to attach it to something, add on to it, and run the plumbing, Louis Williams & Sons can hook you up. The company wholesales fasteners, mobile-home parts, plumbing supplies, and woodworking equipment through a distribution center in Hendersonville, North Carolina. It is also one of the Southeast's largest distributors of Makita tools; the tools are also available via Louis Williams & Sons' Web site. Louis Williams and Sons, Inc. also sells Delta International Machinery, Woodstock International, and CMT tools and equipment.

Boyles Distinctive Furniture sells home furnishings through five locations, including a clearance outlet, in North Carolina and online. Customers can buy traditional wood, leather, and upholstered pieces from manufacturers such as Bernhardt, Hooker Furniture, Maitland-Smith, and Ralph Lauren. The company offers interior design support and nationwide delivery service. Internet shoppers can chat with store reps and get a quote via the retailer's Web site. Boyles' showrooms are distinctive as well, ranging from glass-fronted modern stores to shaker-style buildings. Founded in 1949, the company is part of the Hendricks Furniture Group, which filed for Chapter 11 in 2009.

Mattress Giant Corporation sells mattresses, bed frames, headboards, futons, daybeds, pillows, and other sleep-related products through its website and some 360 stores in about more than a dozen states. Most Mattress Giant locations are in or around big cities, including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Philadelphia. The firm offers more than 40 mattress brands, including Simmons, Serta, Sealy, Tempur-Pedic, and AirSprung. Founded in 1992, Mattress Giant is owned by private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co., which acquired the business in 2006.

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