West Marine, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of boating supplies primarily in the United States. It operates in three segments: Stores, Port Supply, and Direct Sales. The Stores segment operates stores that principally offer hardware and other supplies needed for day-to-day boat maintenance and repairs. The Port Supply segment distributes marine supplies to domestic and international wholesale customers, including businesses involved in boat sales, boat building, boat commissioning and repair, yacht chartering, marina operations, and other boating-related activities. This segment also sells its products to government and industrial customers who use the company’s products for boating and non-boating purposes. The Direct Sales segment operates as an e-commerce website and virtual call center, which provides customers with access to a range of products, product advisor tips and technical information, and product videos and customer-submitted product reviews. As of January 2, 2010, West Marine offered its products through 335 company-operated stores in 38 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada, as well as through 2 franchised stores in Turkey. West Marine company also sells its products through its call center channel and on the Internet. West Marine was founded in 1976 and is based in Watsonville, California.

Tourneau tells time with style. A leading wholesaler and retailer of luxury watches for more than a century, Tourneau has several stores (including the Tourneau TimeMachine, its flagship location which opened in 1997 and covers 16,000 sq. ft.) in New York City and more than 30 others in about a dozen states across the US, including California and Florida. The stores sell watches and vintage timepieces under more than 100 well known brand names, including its namesake brand (Tourneau). Tourneau also operates Watch Gear (launched in 1999), a chain targeted at younger (ages 18 to 35), less affluent consumers. Watch Gear offers more than 30 watch brands both in stores and online at Watchgear.com.

Like Ellis Island in the past, Cruise America welcomes thousands of Europeans each year. Cruise America is the US's largest recreational vehicle renter with about 20 company-owned stores, some 120 dealer locations, and a 3,000-vehicle rental fleet of RVs (cab-over motor homes). For those who choose to cruise north of the US-Canada border, Cruise America boasts locations in Canada. Up to a million dollars in liability insurance is included with each rental. The company allows its customers (nearly half of whom are foreign) to have the freedom of the open road while saving money on travel and lodging costs. It also sells its used trucks, along with new and used RVs, through RV Depot dealerships.

Teleflora was founded in 1934. Teleflora's business is blooming, with the help of some of its best buds. Teleflora, a subsidiary of Roll International, supplies fresh flowers, plants, and gift items to consumers worldwide through its websites and toll-free number. The floral firm taps into a network of about 18,000 florists across the US and Canada, as well as another 20,000 affiliated florists outside North America. It offers fresh flowers for any occasion, as well as plants, corporate gifts, and fruit and goody baskets, some available same day, at prices ranging from $29.99 to about $200. Its partner marketing program provides commissions and discounts for affiliates, corporate giving, and rewards programs.

DSGE Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, buys and sells jewelry, bullion products, and rare coins in the United States. The company offers finished jewelry, gem stones, and gold jewelry components, and makes custom jewelry to order; and provides jewelry repair services. It also provides precious metals products, including the United States and other government coins, medallions, art bars, and trade unit bars; and makes pawn loans on the pledge of tangible personal property, primarily jewelry, as well as conducts regular online auctions. In addition, the company makes collateralized loans to individuals in the state of Texas. Further, DSGE Companies, Inc. operates a retail store under the name Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange. The company markets its products and services through its facilities in Dallas and Euless, Texas; Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina; and Woodland Hills, California, as well as through its Internet Web sites DGSE.com, CGDEinc.com, SGBH.com, SuperiorPreciousMetals.com, SuperiorEstateBuyers.com, USBullionExchange.com, Americangoldandsilverexchange.com, and FairchildWatches.com. It operates 8 primary Internet sites and approximately 900 related landing sites. The company serves individual consumers, dealers, and institutions. DSGE Companies, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Before Old Navy, there was the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM). Active-duty military personnel, reservists, retirees, and their family members can shop and gas up at more than 100 NEXCOM retail stores (brand-name and private-label merchandise ranging from apparel to home electronics), more than 155 NEXCOM Ships Stores (basic necessities), and its 100-plus Uniform Support Centers (the sole source of authorized uniforms). NEXCOM also runs about 40 Navy Lodges (motels) in the US and about half a dozen foreign countries. NEXCOM receives tax dollars for its shipboard stores, but it is otherwise self-supporting. Most of the profits fund morale, welfare, and recreational programs (MWR) for sailors.

3M Nederland finds that Post-it Notes work well in any language. The Dutch arm of US-based conglomerate 3M sells the parent's vast portfolio of consumer, commercial, and industrial products, serving markets such as electro/communications, office, industrial/transportation, and safety. Brands include such household names as Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite household cleaning products, Scotchgard protective products, Nexcare bandages, and Filtrete filters and air purifiers. 3M Nederland operates three manufacturing plants: one in Amersfoort, 3M ECC, which produces heat shrink tubes; another in Breda, 3M Filtrete, which makes filter materials; and a plant in Kerkrade that produces fluorpolymers, elastomers, and resins.

Gold Crest Distributing was founded in 1995 by its president Mel Toellner. Gold Crest Distributing boasts a good-as-gold guarantee. Gold Crest Distributing, LLC sells some 5,000 backyard nature and bird items, including bird seed, feeders, baths, Purple Martin houses, and accessories to wholesale and retail businesses nationwide. The company has been expanding its product line to include gifts, pet products, and seasonal items. Gold Crest distributes bird supplies to some 1,900 retail stores throughout the US and Canada. Gold Crest Distributing, LLC also operates two Songbird Station stores in Missouri and an online store.

Noevir Holding of America operates Noevir USA and Noevir Canada, which distribute personal care products, such as cosmetics and skin care, formulated from natural ingredients. It also sells products for hair care, body care, and nutrition such as herbal teas and spirulina. Brand names include Noevir 505 and Noevir 99, which are sold by the company's independent sales consultants as well as in stores and online. Noevir's products are developed at about a dozen research centers in Japan and the US. The firm is a subsidiary of Japan's Noevir Co. Ltd., which imported aircraft parts when it was first founded in 1964. Noevir began operating in the US in 1979.

Beauty Brands, Inc. was founded in 1995 by Bob Bernstein, who remains CEO of the Beauty Brands organization. Beauty Brands has built a business that offers its customers one-stop shopping and nonstop primping. The company combines its retail superstores (which measure between 5,000 and 9,000 sq. ft.) with full-service salons and spas. Beauty Brands operates more than 50 locations in about a dozen US states. In addition to selling more than 10,000 top salon products, Beauty Brands offers some 30 services including facials, haircuts and highlights, hair removal, manicures and pedicures, special occasion makeup and hair styling, children's hair cuts, and massage therapy.

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