Vermont sells a little bit of everything, from soap to sleepwear, from its Web site and catalog. Products offered by The Vermont Country Store include apparel, cosmetics and skin care products, bed and table linens, sleepwear, swimwear, footwear, baked goods, and candies. Vrest and Ellen Orton opened the company's first store in Weston in 1946. Its Rockingham shop opened in 1967. Today the business is run by their son, Lyman Orton.

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.

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 1933, Famous Distribution, Inc. is owned and run by the Blaushild family. Tubing isn't always part of leisure in the water. Sometimes it's a part for waterworks, and one of the many products offered by Famous Distribution. In addition to tubing, Famous Distribution offers building facility and energy management systems, controls, fittings, pipes, valves, and other equipment and supplies for air conditioning, heating, industrial maintenance, plumbing, ventilation, and waterworks. Famous Distribution sells its products through about 20 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia under the banners of Famous Supply, Pittsburgh Plumbing and Heating, and JF Good, among others.

AUTOBACS SEVEN was founded in 1947. AUTOBACS SEVEN is driven to provide one-stop shopping to Japanese motorists. The company sells automotive items at about 520 stores throughout Japan, under the names AUTOBACS, Super AUTOBACS, AUTO Helloes, and AUTOBACS Hashiriya Tengoku, among others. AUTOBACS are small, automotive convenience-type stores, while the larger-sized Super AUTOBACS carry a broad range of auto products. The Hashiriya Tengoku locations boast used parts. AUTOBACS also provides safety inspections and maintenance services, and it sells cars and gas. In 2009 the company sold its US arm, AUTOBACS STRAUSS (acquired in 2007), and exited the US market.

Reid Furniture is Scotland's largest independent retailer of home furnishings. Products offered include upholstered furniture, bedding, tables, lamps, rugs, and artwork. The family-run chain operates than 30 stores in Scotland, England, and Ireland. Reid's was the region's largest maker of upholstered furniture until it shutdown its manufacturing operations in 2008 and turned to cheaper foreign sources. The company, which was founded by former company chairman Sam Reid in 1970, was taken private by its management, including CEO Alan Marnie, in 2006.

Walter E. Smithe Furniture, more commonly referred to as Smithe Furniture, sells mid-priced to high-end home furnishings through about a dozen locations in Illinois and Indiana. The company also offers leather and fabric upholstery customization options, as well as furniture reupholstering. Brothers Walt (president and general manager), Tim (VP of sales), and Mark (general counsel) Smithe took the reins of the family-run company from their father, and today (thanks to their TV ad campaigns), the three are the faces of the furniture retailer. Smithe Furniture traces its founding back to 1945.

Founded in 1890 by George H. Bartell Sr., the company is still family owned and operated. In addition to its core commercial operations, Bartell Drug contributes to some 40-plus local and national charities, including the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and Seattle Animal Shelter. If any drugstore chain has a prescription for longevity, it's Bartell Drug Company. The nation's oldest drugstore chain, 120-year-old Bartell Drug offers the usual mixture of prescription drugs, OTC medications, personal care products, and convenience items, as well as electronics such as digital cameras and MP3 players; stores also offer digital photo processing services.

Holland Southwest International, Inc. was founded by Gus Gillebaard, an immigrant from Holland, as a small import company in 1953. Distributor Holland Southwest International supplies forest products from vendors throughout the world. The company boasts inventory facilities about a dozen locations in North America, such as Baltimore, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio, Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Mexico City. It ships directly to vendors in China, Russia, the UK, and several other countries. The wood-products firm also includes Holland Southwest among its holdings, which has interests in plants that manufacture prefinished wall paneling and bathroom wallboard.

CompUSA has been rebooted after a major crash in 2008. The company operates about 35 stores, mostly in Florida, but also in several other states and Puerto Rico, as well as an e-commerce site. It sells computers and peripherals, TVs, gaming consoles, cameras, and other electronics and accessories. CompUSA is a division of Systemax, a multi-channel marketer of consumer electronics and digital media technology. In 2008 Systemax acquired CompUSA's brand, website, and retail outlets. Originally a pioneer in big-box computer sales, CompUSA is reformatting itself as a next-generation retailer.

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