The Robert Allen Group is a leading designer and marketer of fabrics and home furnishings under numerous brand names, including Robert Allen, Robert Allen @ Home, Ametex, and Beacon Hill. Each line serves a particular price point and market niche. Also, the Robert Allen Contract division works to customize fabrics and designs for corporate, hospitality, and healthcare customers. In 2002 The Robert Allen Group was acquired by family-owned Decor Holdings.

Kroger's Fred Meyer Stores subsidiary (acquired in 1999) operates about 125 supercenters, which offer groceries, general merchandise, and jewelry, in the western US.Kroger is the nation's 1 pure grocery chain, but it still must watch out for falling prices; Wal-Mart has overtaken Kroger as the largest seller of groceries in the US. While Kroger has diversified through acquisitions, adding jewelry and general merchandise to its mix, food stores still account for about 85% of sales. The company operates about 3,620 stores, including some 2,465 supermarkets and multidepartment stores, under two dozen banners, in about 30 states. It also runs 775 convenience stores under names such as Quik Stop and Kwik Shop

Furnitureland South, Inc sells mid-priced to high-end furniture from more than 400 manufacturers. Its 70,000-square-foot Furnitureland Express showroom features several manufacturers including Stanley, Broyhill, and Natuzzi. The company also offers a print and online catalog. (A Catalog Showcase Gallery allows shoppers to stroll through the pages at its retail store.) Founded in 1969 by CEO Darrell Harris -- who delivered the furniture himself in those days -- the family-owned and run company is closed for business on Sundays.

Holland Southwest International, Inc. was founded by Gus Gillebaard, an immigrant from Holland, as a small import company in 1953. Distributor Holland Southwest International supplies forest products from vendors throughout the world. The company boasts inventory facilities about a dozen locations in North America, such as Baltimore, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio, Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Mexico City. It ships directly to vendors in China, Russia, the UK, and several other countries. The wood-products firm also includes Holland Southwest among its holdings, which has interests in plants that manufacture prefinished wall paneling and bathroom wallboard.

RaceTrac Petroleum hopes it's a popular pit stop for gasoline and snacks in the Southeast. The company owns some 545 gas stations and convenience stores in about a dozen states under the RaceTrac and RaceWay names. (RaceWay stores are operated by independent contractors.) The chain plans to grow by expanding its store count by about 10% a year. Carl Bolch founded RaceTrac in Missouri in 1934. His son, chairman and CEO Carl Bolch Jr., moved the company into high-volume gas stations with long, self-service islands that can serve as many as two dozen vehicles at one time. RaceTrac's convenience stores sell fresh deli food and offer some fast-food fare. The Bolch family owns the company.

Carter-Jones knows when to yell "timber!" Carter-Jones Lumber company is the flagship store of building supplies retailer Carter Lumber. Its store has served the Akron, Ohio, area for more than 70 years, offering contractors and do-it-yourselfers a range of countertops, doors and windows, flooring, plumbing products, hand and power tools, and lumber, among other items. It sells Douglas fir, spruce, cedar, and redwood lumber; computerized kitchen designs; and fireplace mantels made to order. Brands include Moen, Delta, Jacuzzi, and Stanley Black & Decker. The Carter family, via parent Carter Lumber, owns Carter-Jones.

Founded in 1984, The Strategies Group serves some 1,700 construction and real estate management firms in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas. The company's primary strategy is to sell and service the Southwest. The Strategies Group resells construction and real estate software from Timberline, as well as several other software firms including Deltek. The reseller carries such software title as Sage Timberline Office, Sage Master Builder, Sage CRM, Sage AccPac ERP, and Deltek Vision. The firm also provides technical consulting and installation services, as well as classroom and Web-based training to support its software sales.

Times certainly have changed since H.D. Snell opened his first store in Sayre, Oklahoma, back in 1916. There are 50 stores now under three distinct brands: United Supermarkets, Market Street and Amigos United. Almost 1 million guests shop those stores every week in 30 cities all across west and north Texas.And, while you'll notice some differences from one store to the next, one thing is always the same: United Supermarkets still embodies the philosophy of its founder - quality, value, guest service and community involvement. We believe our growth and success are tied to our unwavering commitment to service - to our guests, team members and communities. The United "spirit" flourishes in the attitudes and enthusiasm of our 10,000 plus team members, who keep alive H.D. Snell's principles of honest pricing, quality and freshness, outstanding selection, uncompromising integrity, unparalleled guest service and community involvement.

Max Mara Fashion Group is taking leading-edge apparel design to the max. Max Mara Fashion Group S.r.l. clothes some of the finest women in the world (including ESPN Monday Night Football's female reporters). It touts more than 20 labels, including the flagship Max Mara (high-end contemporary career, bridal, and sportswear); Marina Rinaldi (plus-sized fashions); and iBlues, Marella, and Penny Black (lower-priced lines). One of Italy's largest fashion firms, Max Mara Fashion Group S.r.l. company operates more than 2,300 boutiques in 90 countries worldwide, and it sells through such retailers as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Barneys. Started in the 1950s, Max Mara is owned and run by the family of founder Achille Maramotti, who died in 2005.

Retailing giant Daimaru Matsuzakaya opened for business Monday, bringing to fruition the 2007 mega-merger between department store chains Daimaru Inc. and Matsuzakaya Bargain hunt: Shoppers flock for bargains at the Matsuzakaya department store in Tokyo's Ueno district Monday as the merged Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co. began operations. KYODO PHOTOThe new chain, which combined under holding firm J. Front Retailing Co., will take over strategic planning and product procurement duties from J. Front to save costs amid the current deflation.

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