Wal-Mart Stores is an irresistible (or at least unavoidable) retail force that has yet to meet any immovable objects. Bigger than Europe's Carrefour, Tesco, and Metro AG combined, it's the world's #1 retailer with 2.1 million employees in more than 8,400 stores, including about 800 discount stores, 3,100 combination discount and grocery stores (Wal-Mart Supercenters in the US and ASDA in the UK), and 595 Sam's Club warehouses. Wal-Mart's international division (25% of sales) is growing at a fast pace; it's the #1 retailer in Canada and Mexico and it has operations in Asia (where it owns a 95% stake in Japanese retailer SEIYU), Europe, and South America. Founder Sam Walton's heirs own about 45% of Wal-Mart.

Founded in 1946, EWM's current incarnation resulted from a series of buyouts, the last of them by the company's own management, led by CEO Philip Day in 2002. In 2005 EWM acquired Inverness-based kilt-maker Hector Russell. Get a taste as well as a wrap of Scotland at Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM). A niche retailer specialising in womens and mens wear and traditional Scottish products and gifts, EWM operates some 190 shops throughout the UK. The retailer also operates about 95 tourist shops and more than 25 larger stores that sell apparel, gifts, and other items. More than 30 EWM shops include dining facilities, and more than 10 sell single malts and blended whiskies.

The group's strategy is to focus on the core business of direct home shopping, while at the same time exploiting the full potential of our complementary businesses in financial services. Our home shopping division offers a wide range of value for money products in clothing, footwear, and household and electrical goods. We market our products through a number of channels; principally bi-annual catalogues supplemented by smaller monthly brochures and targeted media advertising. In addition, we provide fully integrated websites for all our main trading titles to meet the ever-changing demands of our customers.The financial services division was formed in 1998 to work with third party financial service providers to promote the sale of financial products such as creditor insurance, loans, life and general insurances and warranty cover to our existing home shopping customers. Detailed knowledge of our home shopping customers, together with skills in risk management and databases has allowed us to build a financial services database to segment and target customers with greater accuracy.

Gabberts Design Studio & Fine Furnishings offers high-end furnishings in a variety of styles -- ranging from traditional to contemporary and from casual to refined -- for your living room, dining room, family room, bedroom, and home office. Gabberts' 63,000-square-foot store in Edina, Minnesota employs in-house interior designers, which it considers a competitive advantage. Founded in 1946 by Don Gabbert as a tire and appliance store, the company was owned and run by the Gabbert family until it was acquired by HOM Furniture in 2008. Gabberts' new owner continues to operate the business under the Gabberts banner.

Kooperativa Förbundet (KF) is a smorgasbord of Swedish retailers. The organization (aka the Swedish Co-operative Union) is a federation of more than 45 consumer cooperative societies with more than 3 million members throughout Sweden. KF's core grocery retail group, with about 20% of the Swedish grocery market, is run by subsidiary Coop Sverige and includes Sweden's largest hypermarket chain, Coop Forum, as well as Coop Konsum, Daglivs, the Mataffären online store, and other chains. Other businesses include: Kooperativa Forbundet Fastigheter, which develops shopping centers; Kooperativa Forbundet Media, involved in book selling (Akademibokhandeln bookstores and bokus.com) and publishing (P.A. Norstedt & Söner); finance; and other activities.

It was founded in 1963 by Ben Deacon and Les Vail. In the cold, dark night, who will be a beacon when the pipes burst? Deacon Industrial Supply will. Through four locations in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the company distributes pipes, valves, fittings, and other products for plumbing, HVAC, and waterworks projects. It stocks more than 35,000 items from manufacturers such as Cornerstone Valves, NIBCO, Sure Seal, and Victaulic. Deacon company also offers pipe fabrication, specialized gasket cutting, and emergency services. Deacon serves commercial contractors and professionals in a range of industries, including automotive, food processing, petrochemical, steel, and pharmaceutical.

Color Spot gives a green thumbs up to more than 2,000 retail and commercial customers in the Western and Southwestern United States. The wholesale nursery distributes high quality bedding plants, vegetables, herbs, shrubs, premium blooming plants, ground cover, and ornamentals. Color Spot also provides in-store merchandising, product displays, promotional planning, and product reordering services to customers such as Home Depot, Lowes, K-Mart, Rite-Aid, Wal Mart, Kroger, Longs and many more.The Color Spot family is committed to excellence and the success of its customers and the consumers of their products. Success is built upon exceptional quality products, superior customer service and merchandising, and excellent distribution systems. Color Spot Nurseries has the largest and most experienced sales and marketing team in the industry. Our commitment to quality runs throughout every facet of our business, from planting, to insect and disease control, to customer service and order entry, to trucking and delivering. Color Spot is truly "growing for its customers," operating 10 production facilities throughout California and Texas.

Operating in the Pacific Northwest since the 1950s, the company was acquired by W. W. Monroe in 1974. Through more than 20 locations in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, Thermal Supply has built a business distributing air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment, parts, and accessories. The company, which grew from a mere three locations over the years, specializes in supplying products from Copeland, Larkin, Manitowoc, Mitsubishi, Sporlan, and other manufacturers.

Groeniger & Company was founded by the late William C. Groeniger, Jr., in the 1950s. Groeniger is almost perfectly fluid and one with the flow. The company distributes pipes and other equipment for wastewater (such as meter boxes, sluice gates, and storm-drain pipes), fire-protection (including fire hydrants, detector check valves, and sprinkler heads), waterworks (pressure fittings and water pipes, for instance), and irrigation (back-flow prevention devices and control valves among other items) through more than 15 locations across California. Groeniger offers such services as application engineering, jobsite storage, delivery, and forklift unloading.

Sid Harvey Industries was founded in 1931 as an oil industry parts supplier by the grandfather of president and CEO Sid Harvey. Whether you're too chilly in Colorado or roasting in Rhode Island, Sid Harvey Industries might have the answer. Sid Harvey Industries, Inc. makes and wholesales heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration parts and equipment through some 75 locations in about a dozen states. Sid Harvey's also exports worldwide. Sid Harvey Industries, Inc. reconditions more than 1,700 used parts and manufactures more than 750 new products at its plants in South Carolina. Its Web site offers a database connecting HVAC professionals and companies looking for qualified job candidates.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.