Improvement Direct operates a network of about a dozen online retail stores that sell a wide array of home décor items, bath and kitchen appliances, and furniture. Products include everything from lamps to sinks to beds. It offers such brand names as Bosch, Emerson, Kohler, and Moen. Environmentally-conscious consumers also have their choice of energy-saving appliances, faucets, lighting, and water heaters. Improvement Direct ships from about 50 warehouses and through more than 30 vendor partners. The private company was founded in 2000 by president Chris Friedland and EVP Dave Boctor.

What do adventurers Ted Baker and J. Peterman have in common? They're both charming, slick, stylish (of course), and sheer fabrications of marketing. British clothier Ted Baker is the official outfitter of trendy lads in the UK. For men on the go, Ted makes a wrinkle-proof suit, an anti-bacterial shirt, and a bed-in-a-box linen set whose pillows contain a special condom pocket. For the birds and the nippers, there are Ted Baker Woman, Teddy Boy, and Teddy Girl. Accessories include skinwear, fragrances, eyewear, and watches. Ted has about 70 retail shops located in the UK and internationally; "his" clothes can also be found in about 125 other stores. CEO Raymond Kelvin owns about 40% of Ted Baker.

Auer Steel & Heating Supply Co. is a full-service distributor of high quality indoor comfort products, featuring the Bryant, Carrier (Milwaukee only) and Payne brands of furnaces, air conditioners, humidifiers, air cleaners, heat & energy recovery ventilators, controls and other accessories. Auer Steel company began in 1940 in Milwaukee, when Don Curtes, Sr. founded the business on his philosophy of superior customer service. Now, over 65 years and two generations later, the Curtes family still owns and operates Auer Steel with the same valued-added service ideals.During the late 1980's and early 1990's, Auer Steel opened three satellite branch operations to provide even better service to its customers. Although our Carrier/Bryant/Payne product lines are limited to Southeastern Wisconsin, we will gladly ship other products throughout the state. May 1995 brought the expansion of Auer Steel to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. From its location in suburban New Hope, Auer Steel/Twin Cities serves customers in nearly all of Minnesota, eastern North Dakota and northwestern Wisconsin. November 2004 brought us another opportunity for growth. Our acquisition of the Bryant distributor serving Appleton, Green Bay, Wausau, northeastern Wisconsin and western Upper Michigan allows us to bring our superior customer service to exciting new territory.

Cash Converters International makes cash advances in return for used merchandise, including electronics, jewelry, musical instruments, tools, and more, which it resells to the public. The second-hand goods retailer and pawnbroker operates about 500 franchised and company-owned stores in its home country of Australia and another 20 countries worldwide, including Canada, the US, and the UK. The company also offers customers cash advances on their paychecks. Stores operate under the Cash Converters banner. Texas-based EZCORP acquired a 30% stake in the firm in 2009.

SmartLabs brings high-tech comforts home with the push of a button. Its SmartLabs Technology unit creates electronic automation and remote control products for lighting, security systems, theater equipment, and other home management systems. The SmartLabs Design division designs and produces its INSTEON wireless technology line, as well as offers original equipment manufacturing services. Reaching consumers in some 130 countries, SmartLabs' Smarthome business markets more than 5,000 electronic home improvement products online, by phone, and through catalogs. President and CEO Joe Dada founded the company in 1992.

Lund Food Holdings has been adding pharmacies to many of its stores. The grocer also operates an online shopping and home delivery service.Lund Food Holdings operates about 20 Lunds and Byerly's upscale grocery markets in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. The company took its present form in 1997 with the merger of Lunds and Byerly's. Both chains specialize in gourmet, high-quality foods, with locations offering artisan breads, bakeries, a line of organic foods and natural products, wine stores, florists, catering services, housewares, cooking demos, and community meeting rooms. Byerly's also runs a culinary school out of one of its stores. Through a partnership with Minnetonka-based PrairieStone Pharmacy.

Industria de Diseno Textil (Inditex) makes disposable chic fashions that are here today and gone tomorrow. The Spanish designer-cum-retailer uses technology and an armada of designers to master cheap chic. Inditex sells on a global scale, with some 4,430 shops in 75-plus countries under eight different banners: Zara, Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Zara Home, and Uterque. Located mostly in Europe, the firm's stores answer to popular trends by telling designers in Spain what customers are asking for locally. Inditex responds in about two weeks with new designs. Amancio Ortega Gaona, Spain's wealthiest businessman, founded Zara in 1975 and later created Inditex as a holding company.

Harvey Nichols is an international luxury lifestyle store, renowned both in the UK and internationally for the breadth and depth of its exclusive fashion merchandise. It offers many of the world's most prestigious brands in womenswear, menswear, accessories, beauty, food and home.Harvey Nichols currently has stores in London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leeds in the UK, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, a store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Hong Kong, China, in Dubai, UAE, Istanbul, Turkey, Jakarta, Indonesia and and a further store in Ankara, Turkey. The London flagship store is located in the heart of Knightsbridge, London's most fashionable and exclusive shopping district.

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.

Harvey is a leading manufacturer and distributor of high quality building products. Founded in 1961, Harvey is a privately held, growth-oriented corporation headquartered in Waltham, MA. Harvey manufactures superior quality, attractive windows, doors and patio rooms right here in the Northeast. We recently constructed a state-of-the art manufacturing facility featuring additional automation, an in-house testing lab, and a dedicated recycling area to help preserve our natural resources. Harvey is one of the few US manufacturers who design all of its own window products.

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