Menard is owned by president and CEO John Menard, who founded the company in 1972. If sticks and stones break bones, what can two-by-fours and two-inch nails do? That is what Menard is wondering now that its biggest rivals (#1 home improvement giant The Home Depot and #2 Lowe's) are hammering away at its home turf. One of the largest home improvement chains in the Midwest, Menard has more than 250 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The stores sell home improvement products, such as floor coverings, hardware, millwork, paint, and tools. Unlike competitors, all the company's stores have full-service lumberyards.

Robinson Export and Import Corporation, which does business as Reico, specializes in bathroom and kitchen remodeling projects, offering a range of cabinets, countertops, sinks, faucets, and appliances. Brands include Merillat, Miele, Moen, Wilsonart, and Bally Block. Reico operates about 20 showrooms and a warehouse in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The company was founded in 1952 as a wholesale distributor of wooden materials from Finland. CEO Richard Maresco owns the company.

Founded in 1905 by George Ball, Ball Horticultural remains family owned. The Ball clan also owns W. Atlee Burpee, a major seed seller to home gardeners. Flower power still reigns at Ball Horticultural. One of the nation's largest sellers of commercial seed for flowers and ornamental crops, Ball Horticultural develops, produces, and distributes seeds, young plants, and cuttings to professional growers, landscapers, wholesalers, and retailers. It operates in more than 20 countries through subsidiaries and joint ventures, including PanAmerican Seed and Ball Seed. The firm sells through its own sales force and online. It also publishes FloraCulture International, Green Profit, and "GrowerTalks" magazines.

Carrefour Italia sources more than 90% of its agricultural food products locally and sells its own brands of food, including the Terre D'Italia and ScelgoBio labels.Europe's leading retailer Carrefour knows that to live la dolce vita, you've got to buy lots of stuff. Its operations in Italy are carried out by Carrefour Italia, one of the country's biggest sellers of food and general merchandise, along with Conad and Coop Italia. Carrefour owns about 495 stores in Italy, which operate under the names Carrefour (about 65 hypermarkets), GS (about 235 supermarkets), DìperDì (some 175 convenience stores), and DocksMarket and GrossIper (about 15 cash-and-carry stores), and franchises more than a thousand others.

O'Connell Oil operates about 30 Convenience Plus convenience stores and a half a dozen gas stations throughout western Massachusetts, serving customers with Citgo, Mobil, and Shell brand gasoline. Three O'Connell's Heating Oil & Service locations provide heating oil and air conditioner repair services. The company also runs plumbing and industrial lubricant divisions. Namesake Ralph M. O'Connell founded the company in 1925.

Orchard Supply Hardware provides many items for California house-raisin's. The company operates about 85 home centers in the Golden State, from Los Angeles to Redding in the north, as well as an online store. More than its name implies, Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) offers products in several home improvement categories, including garden and nursery; heating, cooling, insulation, and ventilation; home safety and emergency preparation; plumbing; and renovation and decoration. OSH stores sell Sears' Craftsman brand tools, and several locations stock home appliances. The firm was founded in 1931 as a farmers' purchasing cooperative in San Jose. It was acquired by Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1996.

The Jones Group Inc. engages in the design, marketing, and wholesale of apparel, footwear, and accessories in the United States and Canada. Its products include skirts, blouses, pants, jackets, sweaters, jeanswear, suits, dresses, casual tops, outerwear, shorts, and vests for women’s, juniors, and girls market. The company also sells footwear, handbags, and small leather goods, as well as costume, semiprecious, sterling silver, and marcasite jewelry. It markets its products under various brands, including Jones New York, Nine West, Anne Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Kasper, Bandolino, Easy Spirit, Evan-Picone, l.e.i., Energie, Enzo Angiolini, Joan & David, Mootsies Tootsies, Sam & Libby, Napier, Judith Jack, Albert Nipon, and Le Suit. The Jones Group also markets costume jewelry under the ‘Givenchy’ brand licensed from Givenchy Corporation, and footwear under the Dockers and Dockers brand licensed from Levi Strauss & Co. In addition, Jones Group licenses its brand names to manufacturers and distributors of women’s and men’s apparel and accessories products. The Jones Group sells its products through specialty and department stores, and mass merchandisers, as well as through company-owned network of retail and factory outlet stores, and e-commerce Websites. As of December 31, 2009, it operated 321 specialty retail and 617 outlet stores. The Jones Group was formerly known as Jones Apparel Group, Inc. and changed its name to The Jones Group Inc. on October 18, 2010. The Jones Group Inc. was founded in 1975 and is based in New York, New York.

GasAmerica Services operates a chain of combination gas station/convenience stores under the GasAmerica banner, all found in Indiana and Ohio. Its 90-odd locations offer the usual assortment of food, drinks, and supplies, and, of course, gasoline. The company issues a convenience card for frequent customers that allows users to earn points for rebates, take advantage of special discounts, receive coupons by mail, and enter the monthly sweepstakes for computers and free gas. GasAmerica Services offers biofuels, including E85 (85% ethanol), B10 (10% biodiesel from soybeans). Founded in 1916, the firm has been blending ethanol into gasoline for more than 20 years.

Casey’s General Stores, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates convenience stores under the names of “Casey’s General Store”, “HandiMart”, and “Just Diesel” in the Midwestern states. The company’s stores offer food, beverages, dairy and bakery products, beer, sandwiches, fountain drinks, donuts, cookies, brownies, Danish rolls, pork and chicken fritters, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, sub sandwiches, breakfast croissants and biscuits, breakfast pizza, hash browns, hamburgers and cheeseburgers, and potato cheese bites. It also provides nonfood items, which include tobacco products, health and beauty aids, school supplies, house wares, pet supplies, photo supplies, and automotive products. In addition, the company offers gasoline or gasohol for sale on a self-service basis. As of September 30, 2010, it operated approximately 1,542 stores in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Casey's General Stores, Inc. was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa.

Trendy Zara is the flagship brand for Europe's fastest-growing apparel retailer Industria de Diseno Textil (commonly know as Inditex). Zara, the cheap-chic subsidiary of the Spanish fashion giant, runs about 1,520 stores, including some 230 Zara Kids shops, in more than 75 countries worldwide. Zara has about 40 shops in the US and 60 in Mexico. The chain sells women's, men's, and children's apparel and also offers plus-size and maternity lines to clothe its larger customers. Zara Home, which sells home fashions, has about 250 stores, in about 25 countries. Zara is Inditex's principal chain and accounts for about two-thirds of its parent company's sales.

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