Lowe's Food Stores operates a chain of about 110 supermarkets in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The stores offer traditional supermarket fare, including fresh meat, seafood, deli, and bakery departments, in addition to natural foods and supplements. The company's Lowes Foods to Go program lets customers shop online and either pick up their groceries at their local Lowe's Food store or have them delivered. It also operates more than half a dozen fuel stations in the Carolinas. The regional chain is upgrading selected stores and customer service as Wal-Mart Supercenters expands in its market. Founded in 1954, Lowe's Food Stores is owned by food distributor Alex Lee.

In 1953, a single modest store began operating in Portland, Oregon to serve the needs of local contractors. That first Johnstone Supply may have been small, but it operated with a commitment to finding the best products for its customers and servicing them like nobody else. Today, Johnstone Supply is the top cooperative wholesale distributor in the country and a recognized national leader in the HVACR industry. With regional distribution centers based in Portland, Oregon, Memphis, Tennessee, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Jacksonville, Florida, the company boasts over 350 independently-owned stores throughout the United States and beyond, totaling over a billion dollars in annual sales. Unbeatable service, support, product knowledge and competitive pricing remain Johnstone’s core values. An expanding regional distribution network means even better product availability and delivery times for local contactors, and ongoing improvements to our distribution and operations systems means Johnstone is poised to remain a true “one-stop-shop” for contractors nationwide. We offer superior customer service, technical advice and training seminars and feature the industry’s most respected catalog (available both in print and online) featuring more than 50,000 quality parts, supplies and equipment.

Agri-Starts was founded in 1984 by owners Randall Strode and Gerri Abner. Agri-Starts produces and wholesales tissue culture liners and micro cuttings. Put more simply, the company clones plants. The cloning process begins with a single growing tip cut from a plant. From this cut thousands of small plants are grown on a gelled nutrient-rich medium with growth regulators in a temperature- and light-controlled environment. Once the plants are large enough to harvest, Agri-Starts sells them as liners in cell packs to nurseries worldwide. The company maintains about 1,300 plant varieties, and its specialties include elephant ears, bananas, blueberries, and coleus plants.

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.

Lloydspharmacy is a community pharmacy chain with over 1,650 pharmacies across the UK. These are based predominantly in community and health centre locations. We employ approximately 17,000 staff and dispense over 151 million prescription items annually. Lloydspharmacy is the trading name of Lloydspharmacy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Celesio AG based in Stuttgart. Celesio is one of the leading international service providers within the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. Lloyds Pharmacy company is active in 27 countries worldwide and employs approximately 47,000 people in its three divisions Patient and Consumer Solutions, Pharmacy Solutions and Manufacturer Solutions.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. hasn't outgrown the mall scene, but it's spending more time in other places. Beyond its 850 US mall-based stores, Sears has more than 1,300 other locations nationwide. The company operates more than 900 independently owned Sears Hometown Stores (formerly known as dealer stores) in small towns and about 105 Sears hardware stores and some 85 Orchard Supply Hardware shops. Sears' stores sell apparel, tools, and appliances, and provide home services (remodeling, appliance repairs) under the Sears Parts & Repair Services and A&E Factory brands. It also sells appliances and tools online. Sears was acquired by Kmart Holding Corp. in 2005. The deal formed Sears Holdings, which owns both chains.

Industria de Diseno Textil (Inditex) makes disposable chic fashions that are here today and gone tomorrow. The Spanish designer-cum-retailer uses technology and an armada of designers to master cheap chic. Inditex sells on a global scale, with some 4,430 shops in 75-plus countries under eight different banners: Zara, Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Zara Home, and Uterque. Located mostly in Europe, the firm's stores answer to popular trends by telling designers in Spain what customers are asking for locally. Inditex responds in about two weeks with new designs. Amancio Ortega Gaona, Spain's wealthiest businessman, founded Zara in 1975 and later created Inditex as a holding company.

Established in 1932, Beard Hardwoods is one of America's leading hardwood lumber manufactures. The home office is in Greensboro, North Carolina. For over 75 years, Beard Hardwoods has devoted itself to delivering the highest possible quality and personal service. This long tradition of quality and service continues into this new era, whether customers are next door, or on the other side of the globe. Beard Hardwoods dry kilns, sales office, and export facility is located on U.S. Highways I-85 and I-40 and is within a few hours delivery time to the ports of Wilmington, NC, Norfolk, VA, and Charleston, SC.

Guess?, Inc. designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It offers collections of denim and cotton clothing, including jeans, pants, overalls, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, and knitwear. The company also grants licenses to manufacture and distribute a range of products that include eyewear, watches, handbags, footwear, kids' and infants' apparel, leather apparel, swimwear, fragrance, jewelry, intimate apparel, and other fashion accessories. Guess?, Inc. markets its apparel under various trademarks, including GUESS, GUESS?, GUESS U.S.A., GUESS Jeans, GUESS? and Triangle Design, MARCIANO, Question Mark and Triangle Design, a stylized G and a stylized M, GUESS Kids, Baby GUESS, YES, G by GUESS, GUESS by MARCIANO, and Gc. The company sells its products through retail, wholesale, e-commerce, and licensing distribution channels. As of January 30, 2010, it operated 432 stores in the United States and Canada comprising 191 GUESS? retail stores, 107 GUESS? factory outlet stores, 52 GUESS by MARCIANO stores, 44 G by GUESS stores, and 38 GUESS? Accessories stores. Guess?, Inc. also operated 84 stores in Europe and 13 stores in Mexico. Guess?, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Butera acquired three stores in Illinois from bankrupt Eagle Food Centers. Family-owned and -operated from its inception, Butera became an employee-owned company in the early 1990s. Butera Finer Foods, Inc. If you're in the Windy City and you're in the market for foodstuffs, find your way to Butera's. Butera Finer Foods runs about 10 full-service supermarkets under the Butera Market banner in northern Illinois. The stores specialize in produce, deli items, and international foods at low prices. Since its founding in 1968 by Paul Butera Sr. and his brother Joe, some 25 Butera Finer Foods supermarkets have been opened. Butera's twin sons Joseph and Paul Jr. currently run 10 of them.

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