QuikTrip provides a quick fix for those on the go. QuikTrip (QT) owns and operates some 535 gasoline/convenience stores in nine states, mostly in the central US. QT stores, which average 4,200 to 5,000 sq. ft., feature the company's own QT brand of gas and diesel fuel, as well as brand-name beverages, candy, and tobacco, and QT's Quik 'n Tasty and HOTZI lines of sandwiches. QT's 15-plus travel centers offer scales, food, fuel, showers, and other services for truckers. The firm's FleetMaster program offers commercial trucking companies detailed reports showing drivers' product purchases, amounts spent, and odometer readings. QT was co-founded in 1958 by chairman Chester Cadieux. His son Chet runs the company.

PharMerica Corporation operates as an institutional pharmacy services company in the United States. It offers services to healthcare facilities and provides management pharmacy services to hospitals. The company purchases, repackages, and dispenses prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals in accordance with physician orders and delivers such medication to healthcare facilities for administration to individual patients and residents. PharMerica Corporation also provides pharmacy products and services to residents and patients in skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and other long-term alternative care settings. In addition, it offers consultant pharmacist services for customers to comply with the federal and state regulations applicable to nursing homes. Further, PharMerica Corporation offers various ancillary services, such as infusion therapy products and services; and hospital pharmacy management services, including hospital pharmacy operations, regulatory and financial management services, and clinical pharmacy programs to various hospitals. As of December 31, 2009, it operated 98 institutional pharmacies in 41 states and provided pharmacy management services to 86 hospitals. PharMerica Corporation is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. PharMerica Corporation (NYSE: PMC) operates independently of Kindred Healthcare Inc. and Amerisourcebergen Corp. as of August 1, 2007.

Empire is also party to a joint venture with oil and gas properties in Alberta. Controlled by the Sobey family, Empire also develops and manages commercial and, to a lesser extent, residential real estate.Decline and fall? Not for this Empire of supermarkets, food distribution, movie theaters, and real estate. Empire Company owns Sobeys, Canada's #2 grocery chain (after Loblaw). Sobeys runs some 1,335 food and drug stores across Canada under names such as Sobeys, IGA, Foodland, Price Chopper, and Lawton's Drug; it distributes food to its company-owned stores and other retailers. Wholly-owned Empire Theatres operates about 50 theaters (380 screens) in eight provinces and is the #2 movie exhibitor in Canada.

Robert Weed Plywood was founded in 1966 by Robert Weed. David Weed is the company's president and CEO. Robert Weed Plywood does business across the board. The company makes and distributes wood products, moldings, and laminated products for a variety of uses. Among the items distributed from the company's facilities in Indiana and Idaho are fir and pine plywood, fiberboard, hardboard, melamine and laminate panels, oriented strand board, particle board, and veneer and edge bandings. Customers include manufacturers of boats, furniture, kitchen and bath cabinets, recreational vehicles, and store fixtures.

The CARQUEST group includes a network of about 40 distribution centers serving more than 3,400 distributor-owned and independent jobbers in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The company sells its own line of auto parts (made by Moog Automotive, Dana, Gates, and others) to the jobbers, as well as wholesalers, for eventual resale to professional repair centers, service stations, dealerships, and, to a lesser degree, do-it-yourself (DIY) customers. Searching for a sensor, solenoid, or switches? CARQUEST can steer you in the right direction. The replacement auto parts distribution group is owned by its member warehouse distributors (the largest is North Carolina-based General Parts).

Founded in Boston in 1909 by Edward Filene, the company in 2009 was acquired out of bankruptcy by rival off-price retailer Syms Corp. Syms has maintained long-held traditions, such as the annual "Running of the Brides," at 100-year-old Filene's Basement, as well as the Filene's name and many of the company's employees. You don't have to go underground to get to Filene's Basement. The retailer operates about 25 stores under the Filene's Basement and fbSY banners in Massachusetts, New York, and half a dozen other states and the District of Columbia. The stores sell off-price men's and women's designer and name-brand apparel and shoes, as well as jewelry and home goods.

King Soopers customers can also shop online (kingsoopers.com) with home delivery service. Its supermarkets offer online prescription refills. King Soopers is a division of Dillon Companies, which is owned by The Kroger Co., the #1 pure grocery chain in the US.King Soopers operates about 140 combination food and drug stores mostly in Colorado but also in Wyoming. About half of the stores are in the Denver area. In addition to traditional supermarket fare, the regional grocery chain offers bulk and natural and organic foods to compete with Whole Foods, which acquired King Soopers' local rival Wild Oats Markets in 2007. It also sells private-label goods under the King Soopers and other Kroger brand names.

Handy Hardware Wholesale was founded in 1961 with 13 members seeking to gain competitive advantage against large businesses and discount chains. Handy Hardware Wholesale has been grabbing market share from Ace Hardware since John Madden was a junior college coach. The company is a cooperative that provides more than 1,100 member-dealers in 10 mostly Southern states as well as in Central America with retail merchandise, primarily hardware, and building materials. The company's inventory also includes nursery, marine, and automotive products. The cooperative operates a central warehouse in Houston and keeps a fleet of more than 100 trailers for delivery.

Mothercare plc sells maternity, baby, and children's clothes; nursery equipment; and toys from more than 1,000 company-owned and franchised stores, more than 600 of which are outside the UK. Mothercare operates in about 50 countries, primarily in other parts of Europe, the Middle and Far East, and in Africa and Southeast Asia. It also offers its merchandise, including the in-house MODA maternity clothing line, through catalogs and its website. Mothercare boosted its presence in the retail toy market with its purchase of the Early Learning Centre (ELC) in 2007. While the firm has struggled at home, it has been successful overseas, particularly in Russia and India.

American Furniture Warehouse sells furniture and electronics at discounted prices through about a dozen retail locations in Colorado and via its website, which also features bridal and gift registries. The company has built a reputation as a home-spun, local furniture retailer. Jabs bought the company in 1975.

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