Founded in 1935, the luxury retailer is still owned and operated by the Fina Family. Michael C. Fina sells only the finest to to-be-weds and their wedding guests nationwide. The company offers high-end gifts, home furnishings, tableware, jewelry, and timepieces through catalogs, the Internet, and a store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The company has an agreement with leading wedding information publisher The Knot, whereby Michael C. Fina is its exclusive provider of china, crystal, and silver. The company's featured brands include Kate Spade, Kosta Boda, Lenox, and Vera Wang. In addition, Michael C. Fina operates its own bridal and gift registry service through its website.

Christy Sports isn't some girly group of ponytailed cheerleaders. It's the largest specialty ski and snowboard retailer in the Rocky Mountains. With more than 40 retail stores in skiing hot spots like Snowmass, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, and Vail, the company sells skiing, snowboarding, snow-shoeing, mountain biking, and golf equipment along with shoes, shirts, gloves, and bags to carry it all. Stores also carry patio furniture, grills, hammocks, and other accessories for the outdoor life and rent skiing and snowboarding gear. Christy's staff are all serious skiers and snowboarders who use the equipment they sell. The company was founded in 1958 by avid skiers Ed and Gale Crist.

Sport Supply Group (SSG) knows how to play the game. Primarily through its catalogs, the company makes and markets about 20,000 sports-equipment products, including balls of all types, tennis court nets, soccer goals, weight-lifting equipment, and other sporting and recreational equipment and uniforms. It also sells through telemarketing programs and about 90 e-commerce sites. SSG peddles products mostly to institutional customers, such as youth sports programs, YMCAs, schools, and municipal recreation departments. The company has grown through acquisitions of sports equipment manufacturers and distributors over the years. The company was acquired by investment firm Onex in August 2010.

Bromberg and Co. is a jeweler and high-end retailer that sells china, crystal, jewelry, and sterling flatware through four Bromberg's stores in Alabama. Its fine offerings come from such makers as David Yurman, Mikimoto, Rolex, and Wedgwood. The company also operates an online bridal registry. In 2004 brothers Billy and John Bromberg, formerly part of the company's management, sold their stake in Bromberg and Co. to other family members (including chairman Frank Bromberg Jr.) and left to form their own jewelry store. Bromberg and Co. was originally founded by the Bromberg family in 1836.

In 1959, William Jacobs started Columbus Fair Auto Auction based on excellent customer service and fairness. He recognized that auctions offered a solution to automobile dealers' needs for a source and marketplace for used motor vehicles.Obviously, the financial risk of leasing space at the Ohio State Fairgrounds to run a one-lane auction in 1959 was small, but significant for this startup entrepreneurial endeavor. It, however, pales in comparison to the present multi-million dollar investment in today's 85-acre facility in Obetz. However, the original strategy of offering a marketplace for used vehicles where buyers and sellers would congregate for the benefit of both continues today.

Desert Sun Motors Inc sells new Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Toyota brand vehicles. And of course, it sells used cars, provides parts and annual service, and operates a quick lube center. The dealership has three locations in New Mexico -- one in Roswell and two in Alamogordo. The Desert Sun Motors Web site allows customers to view featured vehicles and Internet specials, print out service coupons, search the inventory, and make reservations for a test drive. Founder Bobby Martinez owns the company.

The Forzani Group in 1974. Forzani has since become Canada's largest sporting goods retailer. The company operates more than 330 company-owned stores under such banners as Athletes World, Coast Mountain Sports, Sport Chek, S3, Sport Mart, and National Sports. The company also franchises about 230 stores under names that include Atmosphere, Econosports, Hockey Experts, Intersport, and Sports Experts. It has about a 20% share of the sporting goods retail market in Canada.

Dreams, Inc. company owns and operates about 20 Field of Dreams and FansEdge stores across the US -- in addition to some 10 franchised stores -- that sell signed balls, jerseys, photos, plaques, and other collectibles, which it licenses from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA, and NASCAR. It also reaches shoppers via the FansEdge catalog and online (including FansEdge.com and ProSportsMemorabilia.com). Dreams' Mounted Memories division makes and distributes sports memorabilia, while its Greene Organization handles special appearances, endorsements, and other off-field activities for athletes.

Founded in 1937 with a $35 investment, Stuckey's operated more than 350 stores at its zenith in the 1970s. The Stuckey family, including Bill Stuckey (chairman and son of the founder), is the company's majority owner. Once as integral to a road trip as the destination, Stuckey's owns or franchises about 175 stores located along interstates in some 20 US states, mostly in the Southeast. Its store concepts include the traditional blue-roofed stand-alone locations and Stuckey's Express, in which a Stuckey's outlet is located inside other convenience stores and travel centers. Stuckey's sells primarily candy (taffy, peanut brittle, and its famous pecan logs) and souvenirs (T-shirts, postcards, and trinkets).

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).

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