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.

Master Nursery Garden Centers was established in 1954 by a group of independent nurseries in the San Francisco Bay area. You can master your garden with just a little help from the right people. Master Nursery Garden Centers is a cooperative of more than 750 nurseries in about 45 states and two Canadian provinces. Besides having banded together for discounts and to share advertising costs, the cooperative also offers plants under its own Garden Elements brand and gardening products (such as potting soils and fertilizers) under the Master Nursery name.

Founded in 1936 by David and Jewel Abt, abt company is still family owned. Looking for a $10,000 loudspeaker or just a moderately priced clothes dryer? Abt Electronics & Appliance is apt to have it. Abt has just one location -- a massive 37-acre megastore with a parking lot that accommodates 1,000 cars in suburban Chicago, where the natives tend to incorrectly call the store "A-B-T." One of the country's largest independent retailers of electronics and appliances, abt company carries mostly name brands and targets affluent Chicagoans with high-end products such as Bang & Olufsen audio systems and Sub-Zero refrigerators. It also markets products through its website and services everything sold.

Eternit was formed in 1905 by Alphonse Emsens after Ludwig Hatschek invented fiber enhanced cement and called it Eternit due to its long life. It is owned by Belgian construction materials company Etex. From the roof to the sides to the water flowing in, Eternit has your house covered. The company makes roofing material (fiber cement, natural, and concrete slates; concrete and clay tiles, fiber cement sheets), decorative fiber cement boards and siding, and water treatment microstations. Eternit also makes solar energy roof panels and cement plant containers. Its products are distributed to building contractors throughout Luxembourg and Belgium.

Molbak's, LLC company was founded by Danish immigrants Egon and Laina Molbak and is now owned by their son, Jens Molbak, who founded Coinstar in 1988. While Molbak might sound like something you'd want to get out of your garden, Molbak's is all about being in the garden. The company operates a nursery and gift shop in Washington that retails bulbs, garden and nursery plants, indoor plants, seeds, and other gardening-related products like statuary, outdoor furniture, floral arrangements, and gift items. It grows about 80% of its products on 36 acres near its headquarters and retail store. Molbak's also hosts horticultural classes and seminars and offers custom design services for parties or outdoor landscaping.

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.

Passion Parties, Inc. gives new meaning to the concept of an intimate party. Passion Parties, founded in 1994, sells sensual products to women through home demonstrations, or "passion parties," throughout the US and Canada. Parties are led by more than 28,000 independent sales reps called Passion Consultants and are designed to be confidential, fun, and educational, as organizers peddle some 300 bath products, lingerie, edibles, books, and sex toys. Its primary product line, RomantaTherapy, boasts body lotions, fragrances, and gels. The company, a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, is careful to point out that its products are for enhancing intimacy among couples.

Russell Sigler has built a business providing a cool service in a hot region. Through about 10 locations in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and West Texas, the company provides commercial and residential air conditioning contractors with equipment, parts, supplies, and technical support. Its brands include Carrier and Bryant. Russell Sigler has distributed Carrier products for about 60 years. The company also operates a residential and commercial distribution joint venture with Carrier; Russell Sigler owns a 60% stake while Carrier holds 40%. Chairman and CEO Russ Sigler founded his namesake company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1950. His son, Jack Sigler, serves as the firm's president.

Stage Stores, Inc. operates as a specialty department store retailer in the United States. It offers brand name and private label apparel, accessories, cosmetics, and footwear, as well as sportswear, dresses, intimates, home and gift products, outerwear, swimwear, and other products for women, men, and children. It primarily focuses on consumers in small and mid-sized markets. As of January 30, 2010, the company operated 758 stores in 39 states under the names of Bealls, Goody’s, Palais Royal, Peebles, and Stage. Stage Stores, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Guyenne et Gascogne and Carrefour jointly own Sogara, which operates about a dozen Carrefour hypermarkets in southwest France. In addition, Sogara owns about 8% of Centros Comerciales Carrefour (Carrefour's Spanish subsidiary), which operates some 165 Carrefour hypermarkets and 100-plus Carrefour Express supermarkets and Carrefour City stores. The Beau family owns about a fifth of Guyenne et Gascogne.Guyenne et Gascogne cares for Carrefour. Established in 1913, Guyenne et Gascogne is a leading franchise operator for French-based supermarket giant Carrefour. Guyenne et Gascogne (named after two ancient French provinces) runs 30-plus Carrefour hypermarkets and Champion supermarkets in southwestern France.

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