IGA grocers are independent, but not alone. The world's largest voluntary supermarket network, IGA has 6,200 stores in more than 40 countries worldwide, including about 1,350 in the US. Collectively, its members are among North America's leaders in terms of supermarket sales. IGA (which stands for either International or Independent Grocers Alliance, the company says) is owned by about 35 worldwide distribution companies, including SUPERVALU. Members can sell IGA-brand private-label products (over 2,300 items) and take advantage of joint operations and services, such as advertising and volume buying. Some stores in the IGA alliance, which primarily caters to smaller towns, also sell gas.

Carrefour Italia sources more than 90% of its agricultural food products locally and sells its own brands of food, including the Terre D'Italia and ScelgoBio labels.Europe's leading retailer Carrefour knows that to live la dolce vita, you've got to buy lots of stuff. Its operations in Italy are carried out by Carrefour Italia, one of the country's biggest sellers of food and general merchandise, along with Conad and Coop Italia. Carrefour owns about 495 stores in Italy, which operate under the names Carrefour (about 65 hypermarkets), GS (about 235 supermarkets), DìperDì (some 175 convenience stores), and DocksMarket and GrossIper (about 15 cash-and-carry stores), and franchises more than a thousand others.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the world's largest luxury goods company, with brands that are bywords for the good life and everything showy. LVMH makes wines and spirits (Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, and Hennessy), perfumes (Christian Dior, Guerlain, and Givenchy), cosmetics (Bliss, Fresh, and BeneFit), fashion and leather goods (Donna Karan, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Louis Vuitton), and watches and jewelry (TAG Heuer, Ebel, Chaumet, and Fred). LVMH's selective retail division includes Sephora cosmetics stores, Le Bon Marche Paris department stores, and 61% of DFS Group (duty-free shops). Chairman Bernard Arnault and his family, through Groupe Arnault, own about 47% of LVMH.

Vivarte (formerly Groupe Andre) is a giant in European shoes and clothes. One of Europe's leading manufacturers and sellers of footwear and apparel, it operates some 4,400 stores in France and about 10 other countries in Europe, including Germany, Italy, and Spain, under about 20 different banners. Its discount footwear and apparel stores operate under the La Halle aux Chaussures, Chaussland, and Besson Chaussures names. Other stores operate under the Caroll, Kookai, La Halle, Naf Naf, Super Sport, and Fosco names. Vivarte is owned by the UK-based private equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners, which acquired the company from PAI Partners in 2007.

Homeland still has struggled as a result of stiff competition from Wal-Mart and other rival chains.Shoppers who call Oklahoma home shop at Homeland Stores' supermarkets. The regional grocery chain, a division of grocery distributorAssociated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), operates more than 45 stores throughout Oklahoma and a single store in Kansas. AWG operates Homeland stores through its Associated Retail Grocers subsidiary and supplies the majority of the products sold in Homeland stores. The stores sell groceries and general merchandise; most have delicatessens, pharmacies, and some have specialty departments (ethnic foods, floral services, seafood).

rawshaw Group was formed in April 2008 by the reverse takeover of Felix Group, a former UK business that specialized in sales programs and promotions. In May 2009 company finance director Andrew Richardson resigned and Lynda Sherratt, from Felix Group, replaced him.Crawshaw Group (formerly Felix Group) operates almost 15 retail outlets in the UK that mainly focus on selling meat. Doing business as Crawshaw Butchers, the company also owns two processing and distribution centers in Grimsby and Rotherham. Its retail outlets are spread throughout Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Humberside

Intermountain Orient, Inc. has been a leading and respected marketer of forest products since 1974. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with an additional location in Phoenix, Arizona, Intermountain Orient has created a niche in supplying specialty wood products throughout the United States and abroad. Intermountain Orient promotes the highest level in product quality and customer service while working with many of the nation’s premier suppliers of wood fiber.Intermountain Orient offers a wide range of products, specializing in cedar decking and fencing products, railroad ties and bridge timbers, mining materials, log home timbers and accessories, as well as a full line of low grade material for dunnage and pallet stock.

Schnuck Markets founded in 1939, the company is owned by the Schnuck family and run by CEO Scott Schnuck and president and COO Todd Schnuck.If you'll meet me in St. Louis, then chances are there'll be a Schnucks in sight. The region's largest food chain, Schnuck Markets operates about 105 stores, mostly in the St. Louis area, but also in other parts of Missouri and in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. All stores offer a full line of groceries, and most have pharmacies, video rental outlets, in-store banking, and florist shops. Although most stores operate under the Schnucks banner, the company also runs about a half a dozen Logli supermarkets in Illinois and Wisconsin, and a specialty pharmacy.

Founded in 1980, Room & Board operates about a dozen stores in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and the District of Columbia. The company's furniture collections feature contemporary sofas, chairs, and tables (dining and accent), as well as office, bedroom, and outdoor furniture. Room & Board's Shop From Home operation, which consists of a print catalog and website, is the fastest-growing segment of its business. And despite a slump in furniture sales in the US, the company is expanding.

he regional grocery chain also operates about a half a dozen larger Smith's Marketplace stores (154,000 sq. ft. on average) in Utah that combine full-service grocery, pharmacy, and general merchandise departments. Smith's joined the Kroger family when Kroger, the 1 US grocer, bought its parent, Fred Meyer, in 1999.From a small grocery store founded by Ren Smith in Brigham City, Utah, Smith's Food & Drug Centers has grown into a regional powerhouse with supermarkets in Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, and four other western states. Most of its 130-plus stores are conventional supermarkets with in-store pharmacy departments and many offering bakeries, one-hour photo labs, and other services.

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