Laura Ashley Holdings, once famous for its fancy floral print fashions, Laura Ashley Holdings has turned to furniture, home accessories, and decor (about 78% of sales) to fill the till. Of the company's some 230 UK shops, less than half carry its traditional product line of women's and children's clothing. The company has repositioned itself as a lifestyle brand that is largely home furnishings, as it has shuttered apparel and accessories stores. Also, to efficiently sell off excess inventory, the company opened a few outlet stores and has implemented a selling strategy at its stores to maximize sales per square footage.

Alexon Group is an apparel retailer with more than 100 shops throughout the UK and Europe as well as about 900 concessions inside large UK department stores. It also markets clothing online. The company's brands include Alex & Co., Ann Harvey, Dash, Eastex, Kaliko, and Minuet. Undergoing changes designed to improve profits and focus, the company sold its Bay Trading subsidiary, which operated about 260 stores, to Rinku Group after placing the chain in administration in 2009. The rest of the Alexon Group did not go into administration but is suffering from slumping sales.

Orchard Brands is a regular garden grove of catalogs and e-commerce sites. The direct-to-consumer retailer owns a growing portfolio of more than 15 brands that target the 55+ senior demographic. Its titles offer apparel, accessories, and shoes, as well as home and garden and health products. With its acquisition of Linen Source and Crosstown Traders, Orchard Brands now reports more than $1.1 billion in revenue through its catalogs, e-commerce sites, and Appleseed's retail stores in New England and Draper's & Damon's in half a dozen states. Orchard Brands is a unit of the private equity firm Golden Gate Capital (GGC) the parent company of Eddie Bauer and Herbalife. GGC put Orchard Brands up for sale in 2010.

DSW Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a footwear specialty retailer in the United States. It offers dress, casual, and athletic footwear for women and men, as well as accessories, handbags, and hosiery. DSW Inc. also sells shoes and accessories through dsw.com. As of January 30, 2010, it operated 305 DSW shoe stores; and 356 leased shoe departments for other retailers. DSW Inc. was formerly known as Shonac Corporation and changed its name to DSW Inc. in February 2005. DSW Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is based in Columbus, Ohio. As of January 31, 2009, DSW Inc. operated as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc.

Established in 1999, the privately-owned company is headed by Dan Williams. Internet retailer Toolbarn.com has the power to supply tools and tool accessories anywhere they're needed. Toolbarn.com, (which is the main operating company of Tighton Tools & Fasteners, Inc.) sells a variety of power and hand tools and accessories to home owners, contractors, and construction companies. The company provides everything from nails to jackhammers made by major tool and specialty tool manufactures the likes of DeWalt and Makita. Toolbarn.com also offers repair services and operates Toolpartsdirect.com, a separate Web site dedicated to selling parts for tools.

Carrefour Italia sources more than 90% of its agricultural food products locally and sells its own brands of food, including the Terre D'Italia and ScelgoBio labels.Europe's leading retailer Carrefour knows that to live la dolce vita, you've got to buy lots of stuff. Its operations in Italy are carried out by Carrefour Italia, one of the country's biggest sellers of food and general merchandise, along with Conad and Coop Italia. Carrefour owns about 495 stores in Italy, which operate under the names Carrefour (about 65 hypermarkets), GS (about 235 supermarkets), DìperDì (some 175 convenience stores), and DocksMarket and GrossIper (about 15 cash-and-carry stores), and franchises more than a thousand others.

Hi School Pharmacy has a history founded in the tradition of the classic corner drug store. The original store, opened in 1925, was named High School Store due to its location across the street from Vancouver High School on Main Street, Vancouver, Washington. Because of its soda fountain and wide selection of candy and school supplies, it became a popular spot with the students. In 1939, two brothers, Ken and Matt Zapp, opened a pharmacy in the old Safeway building adjoining the High School Store. This doubled the size of the original store and greatly increased the variety of merchandise offered. More importantly, Hi-School Pharmacy, as it was duly named, became known as the place to have prescriptions filled.In 1948, Val and Dorothy Mowan purchased the Main Street store and over the next twenty years, remodeled and expanded the pharmacy and variety store to 10,000 square feet. In 1967, Steven Oliva, a Registered Pharmacist, bought Hi-School Pharmacy. In addition to filling prescriptions, Steve learned all aspects of the retail business from ordering and pricing merchandise to stocking shelves and advertising. His hard work and competitive nature, coupled with a booming economic environment in Southwest Washington, paid off. In the 1970’s, Hi-School Pharmacy expanded by building new stores, and by acquiring drug stores that had been previously operated by other companies, such as Pay’n Takit and Reder’s. With a strong core group of stores located in Vancouver, the company began to expand in other areas. The chain found its niche by locating in communities with smaller populations. Stores in the chain stretched from Northern California to multiple locations in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Bob's Discount Furniture operates about 40 furniture stores (featuring mini-golf courses and complimentary refreshments) in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and four other eastern states. Bob's also offers several in-store "outlets" where customers can buy discounted furniture that has been discontinued, returned, or slightly damaged. Following a 1976 motorcycle accident, company founder and president Bob Kaufman (who's something of a celebrity in the Northeast, thanks to his quirky television commercials) spent months recuperating in a waterbed. Fully recovered and inspired by his experience, Kaufman partnered with cousin Gene Rosenberg and opened up the first Bob's Discount Furniture shop in 1991.

Most businesses get started small, and this is also true of ODL. Our roots sprang forth during World War II in 1945, as a small business in Cy Mulder's home. From that we grew into Art Craft Novelty shop in a humble brick building in Zeeland, Michigan. More than 65 years later, that small company has grown to become an industry leader thanks in part to the innovations we have introduced. ODL prides itself not only on manufacturing first-rate products, but knowing where our products have a place in the market. We understand our customer's desires and we are proud to live up to our motto: Building Value into Building Products®.

Offenbacher Aquatics (also known simply as Offenbacher's) is a casual furniture retailer with about a half a dozen stores in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The company sells outdoor patio furniture, indoor wicker furniture, barbeque grills, hot tubs, pool tables, fireplace mantels, and Christmas decorations. It carries such brands as Tommy Bahama, American Hearth, Jensen Jarrah, Vermont Castings, and Dynasty Spas. Offenbacher's was founded in 1973.

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