Focus (DIY) Limited company is owned by US investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Focus (DIY) Limited has its sights fixed on weekend warriors. The company markets a range of products for do-it-yourselfers engaged in light home improvement and gardening projects, including power tools, hardware, appliances, decking and flooring, contemporary home and patio furniture, garden buildings, and plants and seeds. Focus sells its merchandise through about 180 stores in the UK and Ireland, as well as through its Web site. The site also offers guides, price lists, and calculators for DIY projects.

Building in the American heartland builds business for Amerhart. The company distributes hardware, lumber, and building materials, including decking, insulation, plywood, shingles, and siding through locations in Green Bay, Milwaukee, Sun Prairie, and West Salem, Wisconsin, as well as one in Perkin, Illinois. Amerhart also offers services, including floor plan design. The company's vendors include Ply Gem Industries, Louisiana Pacific, and CertainTeed. Tracing its roots back to 1940, Amerhart takes its name from the 1963 acquisition of American Millwork and Supply by Hartman Wholesale.

Founded in 1929, Fisher Auto Parts is owned by the Fisher family and run by CEO Bo Fisher. Though it hooks a lot of do-it-yourselfers, Fisher Auto Parts is primarily trying to lure the professional installer. The company operates through about 300 stores in some 15 states (mostly on the East Coast and in the Midwest). It is also the founding member of Federated Auto Parts, an automotive supply distribution network that serves more than 3,800 retail locations. Fisher Auto Parts provides for do-it-yourselfers, but its business focus is on professional installers. To enhance service for them, company workers are Automotive Service Excellence certified.

Brantano keeps the whole family on its feet. Brantano NV provides a wide variety of women's, men's, children's, and sports shoes. Brentano also offers accessories such as handbags, wallets, insoles, and shoe care items. Its shoes range in price from 25-125 Euros. Brantano NV provides shoes under its own brands and international brands, including NIKE, Clarks, and Reebok. Brantano sells its footwear in about 285 stores in Belgium, including Luxembourg, and the UK, as well as about a dozen franchises the Middle East. Brantano NV plans to expand its operations in other European countries. Netherlands-based Macintosh Retail Group acquired the Belgian shoe retailer in early 2008.

Founded in 1892 as a local hardware store, the retailer was acquired by The Boots Company (now Alliance Boots) in 1989 and sold off in 2002; in 2004 it floated as a publicly traded company for the first time. Halfords Group is more than just mechanically inclined: It serves others who are also DIY mechanics. The retailer sells vehicle maintenance necessities (parts, tools), luxury automobile items (stereos, navigation systems), and travel-related products (car seats, camping equipment), as well as bicycles and related components. Halfords operates about 470 stores across the UK and Ireland, as well as about a half a dozen locations in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Joe and Mike Zeiden founded Z Gallerie in 1979, using their parents' garage for a warehouse and production facility. Initially Z Gallerie (later joined by sister Carole Malfatti) sold poster art, but in the 1980s the trio added home furnishings and accessories to the merchandising mix. Today Z Gallerie stores, which span some 10,000 sq. ft. on average, feature bedding and pillows, dinnerware, glassware, rugs, lamps, candleholders, clocks, frames and albums, games, and gifts. The firm's eclectic pieces are sold through its website and some 55 US retail locations in nearly 20 states. Z Gallerie exited Chapter 11 in fall 2009 after a six-month stint in bankruptcy.

Founded in 1945, Diamond Hill Plywood is owned by the Ramsey family, including executives John Ramsey and Jim Ramsey. The building Elvis left may have been constructed of material from Diamond Hill Plywood. The company wholesales building materials through about 10 sales and distribution offices spanning Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Its products include adhesives, hardware, insulation, lumber, millwork, siding, structural panels (such as strand boards and sanded plywood), roofing, and wall paneling. Among the company's customers are building-material dealers, furniture and fixture makers, and manufactured-housing companies.

J.P. Boden & Co. (better known simply as Boden) is a UK direct retailer of premium casual apparel. The company sells womenswear and menswear under the Boden name, teen apparel under the Johnnie B label, and children's clothing under the Mini Boden brand. It markets the collections through its catalogs and Web site. J.P. Boden also operates two retail stores in the UK. The company got its start in 1991 when chairman Johnnie Boden quit his job as a stockbroker in London to open up his own clothing business. Designing its catalogs to resemble those of J. Crew, the company's first editions featured friends and family striking poses as fashion models. Boden is a 50% owner of the firm.

English Gardens Group, Inc. was founded in 1954 by the family of president John Darin and GM of the Troy store, Dean Darin. English Gardens helps the Motor City stay green. The company operates about 10 nurseries in the Detroit area and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Each location includes a nursery, garden center and pharmacy, florist, patio shop, and seasonal items. Stores also host seminars on planting, garden design, lawn care, and flower arrangement creation, among other topics. In addition to its products, English Gardens offers services such as landscape design and maintenance, holiday decorating, custom potting, and delivery.

Carter-Jones knows when to yell "timber!" Carter-Jones Lumber company is the flagship store of building supplies retailer Carter Lumber. Its store has served the Akron, Ohio, area for more than 70 years, offering contractors and do-it-yourselfers a range of countertops, doors and windows, flooring, plumbing products, hand and power tools, and lumber, among other items. It sells Douglas fir, spruce, cedar, and redwood lumber; computerized kitchen designs; and fireplace mantels made to order. Brands include Moen, Delta, Jacuzzi, and Stanley Black & Decker. The Carter family, via parent Carter Lumber, owns Carter-Jones.

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