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.

Goldsmiths doesn't necessarily turn raw materials into gleaming baubles, but it does deal with the goldsmith's end result: jewelry. The firm, which was founded in 1778 and is the UK's #2 jewelry chain (behind Signet Jewelers' H Samuel) operates about 160 stores. Keeping up with the times, Goldsmiths also sells jewelry online. The chain was the country's first authorized Rolex merchant, and remains a top dealer of Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer, and other watch brands. Goldsmiths is 70% owned owned by Aurum Holdings, which also owns the Mappin & Webb chain of jewelry shops. Goldsmiths' previous owner, Iceland's Baugur Group, acquired Goldsmiths in 2004 and later bought Mappin & Webb to form Aurum Holdings.

The British Internet retailer was founded in 1998 by Michael Smith and Tom Boardman as a means to promote their Shot Glass Chess Set invention. A decade later it began doing business in the US. Firebox.com sells the very gadgets that women are forced to yell over to get their men's (and boys') attention. Firebox.com (formerly hotbox.co.uk) is an Internet retailer selling toys, games, and high-tech gadgets for boys (and girls, really) of all ages; products include remote-controlled cars and planes for the younger set, while for the older guys there are DVDs, cameras, tools, sea scooters, pool tables, and even the Internet Fridge (a refrigerator complete with a 56k modem, TV, radio, and digital camera).

Lyreco UK makes the products that help people write down inspired words. A subsidiary of the France-based international Lyreco Group of companies, Lyreco UK is a wholesale marketer and distributor of office supplies and stationery to businesses in the UK. Lyreco UK Ltd. provides clients with an extensive catalog of products which includes top brand electronics, office supplies, office furnishings, and stationery products. As a "generic" alternative to name branded products, Lyreco also markets its own competitively priced Impega brand stationery products in the UK. Lyreco UK Ltd. offers its products online, in print catalogs, and through various regional suppliers.

The year was 1899. Jardine Cycle & Carriage began its life in Kuala Lumpur as Federal Stores, a trader in nutmegs and other sundries, and it became Cycle & Carriage within the same year, selling everything from soap to writing paper and simple machine parts. We soon began to sell bicycles, motorcycles and cars, moving our headquarters to Singapore in 1926.The history of Jardine Cycle & Carriage is inextricably linked to the evolution of the motor car and the emergence of Singapore and Malaysia as independent modern states. Our story reveals fluctuating fortunes as the transportation industry was subject to economic cycles, two world wars and changing government policies.What has stood out through the years despite a rapidly changing environment is the resilience to adapt and grow though our unwavering commitment to achieve excellence in our products and services, and efficiency in our operations, which are still hallmarks of Jardine Cycle & Carriage till this day.

Sensational Beginnings (SB) helps kids start having fun early. The catalog and online merchant sells educational toys, furniture, and safety and child care items for infants and toddlers. (SB also operates a single store in Michigan.) Toy categories include science and nature, ride-ons, musical instruments, indoor active play, travel kits, and seasonal items. SB also offers gift-giving and parenting advice, a gift registry, and an online photo gallery of children using company products. Customers can shop by brand, category, or age group or get advice on age-appropriate toys and games. President Debra Shah, a former nurse specializing in mother and child medical care, founded the company in the early 1990s.

Blackwell UK (known as Blackwell's) operates about 50 bookshops throughout the UK under the Blackwell's and Heffers names, as well as Blackwell's Online Bookshop. Blackwell's Book Services (headquartered in the US, with offices in the UK) supplies books and bibliographic products to some 3,500 research, academic, and specialty libraries around the world. The original B.H. Blackwell's store was opened in Oxford on New Year's Day 1879, and today it is one of the company's flagship locations. The Blackwell family still owns and runs Blackwell's. The family also owns academic publisher Blackwell Publishing.

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.

Kuni Automotive has the right wheels for the Left Coast. The auto group annually sells new BMW, Buick, Honda, Land Rover, Lexus, Smart, and Volkswagen cars at about eight dealerships in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. The dealership group also sells used cars. Kuni Automotive's dealerships provide parts and services, and some of them also perform collision repair. On the group's Web site, car shoppers can browse for new and used offerings, order parts, schedule service, or apply for financing. With Burt Automotive, Kuni operates Burt-Kuni Honda near Denver, Colorado.

Spicers is nothing to sneeze at -- the company is a leading office products and equipment wholesaler in the UK and France, where most of its 20-plus distribution centers are located; it also holds strong market positions in Ireland, France, and the Benelux countries, and is developing its business in Germany, Italy, and Spain. The company's 18,000 products, which are sold to office products dealers via its numerous catalogs and Web site, include office equipment, furniture, and janitorial supplies sold under major manufacturers' brands as well as its own brand, 5 Star. Spicers accounts for about one-third of the revenues of its packaging and paper parent company, DS Smith.

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