Giordano was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lai. Think of Giordano International as the Old Navy of the Pacific Rim. Named after a New York pizzeria, the retailer is known for colorful, low-cost casual apparel and chipper service. Its store banners include Giordano, Giordano Ladies, Giordano Junior, and the budget-conscious Bluestar Exchange. Giordano operates or franchises more than 1,900 stores in China and Hong Kong (its primary markets), and a dozen other Asian countries, as well as Australia, and the Middle East. Expanding internationally it has opened its first stores in Egypt, Russia, and the US (in Los Angeles). Giordano International Limited company has been reducing its exposure to unprofitable garment manufacturing operations.

GN Hello Direct, Inc. was acquired in 2000 by GN Netcom, a Denmark-based maker of hands-free telecom equipment. Ah, the poetic justice GN Hello Direct delivers. The company sells telephones and accessories (including headsets and amplifiers) to small and midsized businesses and the very telemarketers who ring you just when dinner is served. It also sells the phones that screen those annoying telemarketer calls, as well as recording, distance-conferencing, mobile navigation, and VoIP products. More than 50 major brands are represented in the firm's inventory, including AT&T, Panasonic, and Motorola, plus its own Hello Direct and GN Netcom labels. Products are sold through GN Hello Direct's catalog and website.

Old homes in the New World and new homes in the Old can find home-improvement supplies from this "mister." Mr. Bricolage is a retail chain (whose name means do-it-yourself in French) that sells home-improvement and related items at about 600 stores in France, Belgium, Argentina, Bulgaria, Madagascar, Spain, and Uruguay. Mr. Bricolage SA operates its business under the Bricolage and Catena brand names; the Tabur family owns more than 25% of Mr. Bricolage SA company.

Food Emporium offers free delivery with $50 purchases (with some restrictions). The Food Emporium's store count has slipped as its stores in New York State and Connecticut have been converted to other A&P banners.The Food Emporium operates about 15 upscale supermarkets in densely-populated Manhattan and a store in Connecticut. A division of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2010, Food Emporium stores are small (8,000 to 17,000 square feet). The grocery chain also operates an online shopping service (www.thefoodemporium.com), offering pick up and home delivery service to shoppers in 33 ZIP codes in Manhattan, where it competes with Internet grocer FreshDirect

Tacony manufactures and distributes products in four business areas: sewing, home floor care, commercial floor care, and ceiling fans and lighting from about 10 distribution centers in the US. Tacony company's offerings bear such brands as Baby Lock (sergers and sewing machines), Koala Studios (sewing and craft furniture), Powr-Flite (janitorial equipment), Regency (ceiling fans and lighting), Riccar (vacuum cleaners), and Simplicity (vacuum cleaners). It also runs the Vacuum Cleaner Museum and Factory Outlet, which opened in 2009, in St. James, Missouri. Still a family-owned business, Nick Tacony, father of president Ken Tacony, founded Tacony company in 1946.

PITCO Foods, formed by the merger of Pacific Groservice and Pittsburg Wholesale Grocers, operates four membership warehouse stores in San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, and Oakland, California under the PITCO banner. The outlets, which are not open to the general public, stock more than 9,000 items and cater to some 10,000 independently-owned retailers and food service operators throughout the Central Valley and Northern California. Customers include supermarkets and convenience stores, drug stores, vending operations, restaurants, and caterers. In addition to various food items, the wholesaler stocks tobacco, janitorial supplies, housewares, health and beauty aids, and auto supplies.

Founded by Tom Singh in 1969, New Look was taken private in 2004 by the private equity firms Apax Partners and Permira, who've twice failed to sell it. Growing as fast as its teen customers, New Look sells apparel, lingerie, shoes, and accessories at about 660 New Look stores in the UK and Ireland and 300-plus Mim shops in France and Belgium. Most New Look shops are in the UK but the chain has a growing presence in Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and now Russia. The retailer also sells apparel online. New Look targets tweens (pre-teens), teen girls, and their mums (if they're hip) with value-priced clothing. Most of its products are private label and the stores sell plus-sized and maternity apparel.

Family-owned-and-operated Davila Pharmacy operates a single drugstore in San Antonio, Texas. Prescription medications account for about 40% of sales. Davila Pharmacy also offers durable medical equipment, ostomy, diabetic, nutritional and incontinent supplies. In addition to standard pharmacy services, Davila Pharmacy boasts that all of its pharmacists are bilingual and certified to administer immunizations. It also offers home delivery in the San Antonio area and online prescription refills. Founded by Rudy Davila Sr., today the company is run by his son Rudy Jr. Davila Pharmacy made the Hispanic Business 500 list, most recently in 2008.

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.

GNC is owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Board Plan, its affiliate Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund II, and management. GNC filed to go public in September 2010.What's good for the customer is good for GNC Acquisition Corporation (formerly General Nutrition Centers). GNC operates the world's leading nutritional-supplements retail chain devoted solely to items such as vitamins and dietary products. The company also makes Rite Aid private-label products. It sells its products online, as well, through a partnership with drugstore.com. GNC has 2,800 company-owned retail stores in the US and Canada; 1,900 store-within-a-store sites in Rite Aid's drugstores; and 2,220 franchised stores in 47 countries.

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