Passion Parties, Inc. gives new meaning to the concept of an intimate party. Passion Parties, founded in 1994, sells sensual products to women through home demonstrations, or "passion parties," throughout the US and Canada. Parties are led by more than 28,000 independent sales reps called Passion Consultants and are designed to be confidential, fun, and educational, as organizers peddle some 300 bath products, lingerie, edibles, books, and sex toys. Its primary product line, RomantaTherapy, boasts body lotions, fragrances, and gels. The company, a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, is careful to point out that its products are for enhancing intimacy among couples.

TAKKT AG wants office decor to have some tact. The mail-order company sells office furniture, equipment, fixtures, and supplies. TAKKT also peddles retail display cases and warehouse equipment, such as shelving, carts, containers, ladders, and conveyor belts. The company primarily operates through three divisions: KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA, K + K America, and TopdeQ. (K + K America owns C&H Distributors, Hubert, and National Business Furniture). TAKKT companies sell more than 130,000 products via online or printed catalogs. The company distributes more than 70 million catalogs in North America, Europe, and Asia each year. Franz Haniel & Cie. owns more than 70% of the company.

SKH Management operates a chain of more than half a dozen Stauffers of Kissel Hill (SKH) combination supermarkets and garden centers and standalone garden centers in central Pennsylvania. In addition to traditional grocery departments (bakery, meat and seafood, deli, as well as an extensive produce selection), the stores offer floral and home and holiday decor departments. The garden centers sell floral arrangments and gift baskets, gardening supplies, foliage plants, mulch and stone, patio furniture, and more. The regional retail chain was founded in 1932 by Roy Stauffer, Sr. Today the company is still family-owned and run by Paul Stauffer.

The company sells mattresses, bed bases, and other bedroom furnishings through a number of retail chains in Europe. The company operates some 960 stores located across Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Beter Bed's retail brands include Matrazen Concord, Beter Bed, DBC, El Gigante del Colchón, and Slaapgenoten/Dormaël Slaapkamers. Each chain maintains its own unique retail concept, from discount furnishings to high-end bedroom accoutrements. The company acquired Spanish retailer El Gigante Del Colchón in 2005.

Paul Stuart, Inc. was founded in 1938 by Ralph Ostrove and was named after his then 7-year-old son, Paul Stuart Ostrove. Where would the Mad Men of Madison Avenue be without the classic menswear of Paul Stuart? The traditional upscale clothier on Madison Avenue in New York City sells high-end men's and women's specialty apparel to the office crowd. The company also has a store in Chicago, about 70 in-store shops and three freestanding stores in Japan, and a store in Korea. As part of its upscale services, Paul Stuart offers custom suit making. Paul Stuart launched its awaited Phineas Cole collection, a "curated" line, in fall 2007.

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.

Sur La Table, Inc sells appliances, bakeware, cookbooks, housewares, specialty foods, and other goodies for professional and home chefs from about 80 stores in some 30 states, a website, and catalogs that make foodies drool. For customers who aren't sure how to best use the Le Creuset casserole dish, Cuisinart food processor, or Chef's Choice waffle maker, the company offers cooking classes and cookbook signing events in many of its stores. Founded in 1972 at Seattle's famous Pike's Place Market, Sur La Table is owned jointly by the Behnke family, including its chairman Carl Behnke, and private investor Freeman Spogli.

Mathis Bros. Furniture Co., Inc operates a handful of Mathis Brothers-branded furniture showrooms: two each in Oklahoma and California. Its 130,000-sq.-ft. Oklahoma City store draws customers from across the state. In addition, Mathis Bros. owns a Thomasville Home Furnishings and a Drexel Heritage Home Furnishings store, both also located in Oklahoma City. The furniture retailer has grown through acquisitions, such as its purchase of Bedtime, a juvenile furniture importer. Brothers Bill and Larry Mathis own and operate the company.

Where can Kiwis buy their groceries and their consumer retail goods under one roof? The Warehouse. One of New Zealand's leading retailers, The Warehouse Group operates about 85 department stores and 45 office supply stores under the Warehouse Stationery banner throughout the country. Its offerings include apparel, entertainment, technology, music, sporting goods, grocery items, and gardening accessories, among many others. Founded in 1982, the company decided to exit the Australian market in 2005 and sold that subsidiary (comprising 122 Warehouse Australia stores) to focus on its home market. A bid by Australian retail giant Woolworths to acquire Warehouse Group was blocked by regulators in mid-2008.

Hampton Lumber Sales (HLS) is the sales division of privately held Hampton Affiliates. The division sells dimensional lumber, stud lumber, industrial lumber and clears, panel products, and engineered wood products. HLS sells more than a billion board ft. of Hampton's mill products and another billion ft. of outside-mill products. It ships products by unit, container, railcar (utilizing Hampton's private fleet of center beam railcars), or truckload to serve its wholesale customers. Additionally, the unit offers reload services from centers in California, Oregon, and Washington. Formed in 1950, HLS has grown to be one of the largest forest products wholesalers in the nation.

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