Monsoon Commerce Solutions (MCS) helps online retailers and booksellers through its Marketplace Services and Selling Solutions divisions, providing retail management software, distribution assistance, and hosted store services. Its roster of more than 15,000 customers includes libraries, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers in about 50 countries. The Alibris Retail unit operates Alibris.com, an online marketplace for independent sellers of books, music, and movies. Founded in 1998, the firm acquired Monsoon in early 2010 and then reorganized and changed its name. MCS is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners.

Sabin Robbins founded Sabin Robbins LLC, originally a pharmacy supplier called Ross & Robbins Company, in 1884. It was purchased by Blackbird Capital Partners in 2008. Sabin Robbins isn't necessarily glossy-eyed, but it does keep its eye on plenty of glossy paper. Sabin Robbins LLC distributes sheets and rolls of paper, including glossy- and matte-coated, envelope stock, form bond, and uncoated paper for books, covers, and reply cards. It also buys paper from individuals and companies. Sabin Robbins, which takes excess stock from mills and converts it for sale to commercial printers, boasts converting operations in Mansfield, Ohio, and sales and distribution offices in Cleveland, Atlanta, and Chicago.

IBC is a leading wholesale distributor of books, e-books, and audiobooks to more than 70,000 customers worldwide. It is a business unit of recently-formed Ingram Content Group, which encompasses about a dozen companies involved in the wholesale distribution of books, periodicals, music, DVDs, foreign-language products, medical reference titles,children's books, religious titles, and hard-to-find books. Both IBC and parent Ingram Content Group are owned by Ingram Industries.

Findlay Automotive also sells RVs at its Las Vegas location. In addition, the company provides auto parts, services, and financing. Established in 1959 by the late Pete Findlay, today Findlay Automotive is owned by his son president Cliff Findlay.High rollers can find their wheels at Findlay Automotive. Findlay Automotive Group sells a variety of new and used cars at about a dozen dealerships in the Las Vegas area, but also in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. Findlay's auto brands include Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, GMC, Saab, Scion, Subaru, Toyota, and Volkswagen.

Michaels Stores is pretty crafty. The nation's #1 arts and crafts retailer owns and operates about 1,040 Michaels Stores canvassing the US and Canada. Michaels sells more than 40,000 products including art and hobby supplies, decor, frames, needlecraft kits, party supplies, seasonal products, and silk and dried flowers. Michaels also operates about 140 Aaron Brothers stores in California, Texas, and about half a dozen other states, which provide framing and art supplies. The retailer's Artistree subsidiary manufactures frames and molding for Michaels and Aaron Brothers stores. Michaels Stores was taken private in 2006 by the investment firms Bain Capital Partners and The Blackstone Group.

Midas, Inc. provides retail automotive services through franchised or company-operated shops primarily in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It sells Midas, SpeeDee, and Midas-SpeeDee co-branded franchises. Midas company’s retail shops offer automotive repair and maintenance services, such as exhaust, brake, suspension, air conditioning, tires, batteries, and various other maintenance services. As of January 2, 2010, it operated the Midas network of 1,602 shops located in the United States and 9 Canadian provinces; the SpeeDee network of franchised and company-operated shops consisting of 112 shops located in 12 states in the United States; and 776 Midas shops licensed in 14 other countries, and 57 licensed SpeeDee shops in Mexico. Midas, Inc. also involves in the real estate activities, including the development, ownership, and lease of Midas and SpeeDee shops in the United States and Canada; and supply chain activities comprising the provision of value-added merchandising services to franchisees. In addition, it owns, develops, sells, and leases automotive shop management software to Midas franchisees and other third-party automotive service providers. Midas, Inc. was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois.

The Birthdays concept was later launched in 1986. Clinton Cards purchased its rival Birthdays in 2004 and runs the unit as a separate business. Amid economic turmoil and slowed consumer spending, however, Birthdays collapsed into administration (the equivalent of bankruptcy in the US) in 2009. You say it's your birthday? Well, your friends better run to a Birthdays store for those cards! The company operates about 200 (down from more than 400) Birthdays stores in the UK and Ireland offering discount greeting cards and party supplies for every occasion. Founded in 1966 as Ron Wood Greeting Cards, the company was originally a distributor of cards and gift wrap until the mid-1970s when it opened three card shops.

The House of Harry Winston was established in 1932 by Harry Winston, the son of a New York jeweler. Harry Winston accounts for about 54% of its parent company's overall sales. Diamonds are Harry Winston's best friend. The retail arm of the Canadian mining company Harry Winston Diamond Corp. (formerly Aber Diamond Corp.), Harry Winston buys, designs, and sells premium diamonds and gems. With about 20 salons in locales, including Beijing, London, New York, Osaka, and Paris, the company's clientele includes sultans, starlets, and other affluent types who can afford the average $100,000 price tag for a Winston bauble. Harry Winston Inc. also sells its timepieces through more than 150 locations worldwide and online.

Founded by Samuel Silverman in 1912, today jewelry chain Ben Bridge Jeweler operates more than 70 stores in a dozen mostly western states, including Alaska and Hawaii. The company sells platinum, 14- and 18-karat gold jewelry, diamonds, watches, and bridal and anniversary fare from its mall-based stores and Web site. Ben Bridge married Silverman's daughter in 1922, bought out his father-in-law, and renamed the company after himself. Still run by the Bridge family, the company became a subsidiary of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2000.

Founded in 1914 by Jacob Perelman, the firm was run by three generations of his family until 2007 when Dale Perelman, his grandson, stepped down. Brian Eckstein, the company's former CFO, was named president at that time. King's of New Castle (better known as King's Jewelry) doesn't sell the Crown Jewels but instead provides less renowned diamond, gemstone, and gold jewelry, as well as watches and giftware, from about 35 stores (down from about 50 in 2007) in Pennsylvania, Ohio,West Virginia, and Maryland. Like those of its larger rivals Zale and Kay Jewelers, the regional jewelry chain's stores are mostly mall-based. King's also sells jewelry online and by catalog and offers repair and appraisal services.

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