Leon's Furniture Ltd. sells home furnishings, bedding, appliances, and electronics through about 65 company-owned and franchised stores throughout Canada and online. Its store banners include Shop for Furniture, Shop for Appliances, and Shop for Electronics. Its stores carry such brands as Frigidaire, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sealy, Simmons, and Whirlpool, among others. Leon's also wholesales appliances to builders, landlords, and retailers through its Canada Appliances division. Ablan Leon founded the company in 1909; more than a century later, it is still owned and operated by the Leon family.

Plaid Pantries operates more than 100 convenience stores under the Plaid Pantry banner in Oregon and Washington. Many of the shops offer in-store Subway and Taco Bell outlets, as well as gas and automatic check-cashing machines. After years of selling its own brand of gas (Plaid-Plus), the regional convenience store chain has switched to offering branded gas (ConocoPhillips and Shell) at its stores that sell fuel. Plaid Pantries got its start in 1960 and got its name, courtesy of founder John Piacentini, from the red-and-white checkered design then featured in all of its locations.

Shoebuy is the largest retailer on the Internet focused on all categories of footwear and related apparel. Shoebuy has partnerships with over 1,100 manufacturers and represents over 1,000,000 products from top brands including adidas, Aerosoles, Allen-Edmonds, Bass, Bostonian, Brooks, Clarks England, Crocs, Dockers, Dr. Martens, Easy Spirit, ECCO, Fila, Florsheim, Franco Sarto, Hush Puppies, Johnston & Murphy, Keds, K-Swiss, Mephisto, Merrell, Naturalizer, New Balance, Reebok, Rockport, Samsonite, Sebago, Skechers, Sperry Top-Sider, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger, and many more. Shoebuy is rated one of the top eTailers in the country for outstanding service by BizRate, one of only 2 Companies to win this award 6 years in a row, and is rated by Hitwise as one of the Internet's Top Ten most visited apparel and accessory shopping and classified sites.

Dunnes Stores has been losing market share to foreign competitors in recent years and is under increasing pressure to cut prices as the Irish economy swoons. Frank Dunne, son of the late founder Ben Dunne, runs the company.The Irish aren't done shopping until they've shopped Dunnes Stores. The largest Irish-owned supermarket and the Second supermarket operator there (behind Tesco), Dunnes Stores offers brand-name and its own St. Bernard-brand grocery items; housewares for every room; and clothing for men, women, and children in about 150 stores in Ireland, the UK, and Spain. Ireland's largest family-owned business.

Champion Window Manufacturing is looking for a home-improvement boom as its window of opportunity. The company makes custom-built, vinyl-framed replacement windows and doors and sells them directly to homeowners through about 75 sales and installation offices in some 30 states. It also manufactures patio rooms, porch enclosures, and vinyl siding; remodels basements; and sells patio furniture made by third-party vendors. Champion Window, founded in 1953 by Alvin Levine and Arthur Stevens as a maker of aluminum storm windows, doors, and awnings, was owned by former executives Edward Levine (son of Alvin) and Bernard Barbash until mid-2007, when a private-equity investor gained control of day-to-day operations.

The Gap, Inc. operates as a specialty retailing company. The company offers clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, children, and babies under the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, and Athleta brand names. Its products include wardrobe basics, such as denim, khakis, and T-shirts; fashion apparel; casual apparel and accessories; maternity apparel; women’s underwear, sleepwear, loungewear, and sports and active apparel; and shoes and accessories. The company also franchises agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap and Banana Republic stores worldwide. As of March 24, 2010, it operated approximately 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, and Ireland. The Gap also offers its products through catalogs, as well as gap.com, bananarepublic.com, oldnavy.com, piperlime.com, and athleta.com Web sites. The Gap, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is based in San Francisco, California.

SOK is made up of about 35 independent regional cooperative societies that produce the group's services. Food and grocery account for half of SOK's overall business its market brands include ABC!, Alepa, Prisma, S Market, and Sale. The group was founded in 1904.Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta (SOK Corporation) knows a thing or two (or 1,500) about retail. The Finnish group is active in grocery, combination convenience store/gas station, department store, specialty goods, hotel and restaurant, auto trade, and hardware services via 1,590 locations in its home country, throughout the Baltic nations, and Russia.

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.

Most businesses get started small, and this is also true of ODL. Our roots sprang forth during World War II in 1945, as a small business in Cy Mulder's home. From that we grew into Art Craft Novelty shop in a humble brick building in Zeeland, Michigan. More than 65 years later, that small company has grown to become an industry leader thanks in part to the innovations we have introduced. ODL prides itself not only on manufacturing first-rate products, but knowing where our products have a place in the market. We understand our customer's desires and we are proud to live up to our motto: Building Value into Building Products®.

Zappos.com, Inc. was founded by its former chairman, Nick Swinmurn, following a botched mall-based shoe quest in 1999. A decade later, Zappos.com was acquired by online giant Amazon.com. If the shoe fits, wear it. If not, Zappos.com will gladly take it back at no cost to you. Zappos.com has become the #1 seller of shoes online (ahead of J.C. Penney) by stressing customer service. It stocks 3 million pairs of shoes, handbags, and apparel and accessories, specializing in some 1,000 brands that are difficult to find in mainstream shopping malls. Through its website (and 7,000 affiliate partners), Zappos.com distributes stylish and moderately priced footwear to frustrated and shop-worn customers nationwide.

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