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.

Budgetext provides college and K-12 text, trade, and reference books, as well as supplemental materials, for bookstores throughout the US. The company distributes both new and used titles. It also offers administrative support to clients, including buyback services and inventory management systems. Founded in 1967, the company operated as a private college bookstore before entering the wholesale textbook market.

STAEDTLER-Mars is the Canadian distribution arm of Germany-based STAEDTLER Group. The company's inventory includes pencils, pens, markers, sharpeners, and other writing and drawing implements, as well as inkjet cartridges, drawing boards, and rulers. It also distributes Eberhard Faber products. STAEDTLER-Mars, which was incorporated in 1960, has additional sales offices in Quebec and British Columbia. STAEDTLER-Mars Ltd. plans to merge its Canadian and US offices into one unit in 2010. The new team will be headquartered in Canada.

The firm was founded in 1991 by Graham and Ursula Hodson and is jointly owned by the Hodsons and managing director Colin Hills, who has run the business since 1997. Fresh Bouquets knows how to grow its business. The floral firm grows, sources, and distributes 100,000 bunches of flowers a week to service stations and convenience stores across the UK under the Flowerfete label. Fresh Bouquets grows its own flowers in company-owned nurseries and supplements those with selected imported flowers from Israel, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. Through its FDL e-commerce division, Fresh Bouquets has diversified beyond flowers to offer higher-margin items such as sunglasses, umbrellas, corkscrews, and other gadgets.

Color Me Mine Enterprises brings out the Picasso in you. The company has some 150 franchise locations open or under development in about two dozen US states, as well as in Australia, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. Customers can choose from more than 400 pieces of pottery and paint it on site, either solo or as part of a party package for birthdays, bridal showers, and other events. Color Me Mine To Go brings the pottery and paint to the party when you can't make it to the store. Some locations also offer workshops catering to students in kindergarten through sixth grades and home-school art certification.

AFFLINK Inc. was founded in 1977. AFFLINK knows that packing products, cleaning items, and office supplies aren't sexy, but just about everyone uses them. The company distributes products for industrial and food packaging (tape, stand-up pouches), janitorial services (tissue paper, cleaners), and offices (business cards, lighting). It also supplies the food service (bowls, cutlery), safety (protective apparel, head gear), and medical (exam supplies, disinfectants) industries. Customers include building maintenance providers, hospitals, and restaurants. AFFLINK is a subsidiary of Performance Food Group.

The Ferman family owns the company, which is one of the nation's oldest continuously running dealerships; it was founded in 1895.When Buccaneers go cruising, they could be on wheels from Ferman Automotive. Through about 15 dealerships in the Tampa, Florida, area, Ferman Automotive annually sells more than 12,000 new cars, more than 6,500 used cars, and about 600 fleet units. Ferman Automotive dealerships peddle cars under a dozen foreign and domestic brand names, including Acura, BMW, Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, GMC, Jeep, Mazda, MINI, Nissan, and Volvo. Ferman also sells new Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles at three dealerships in the Tampa area.

Charles & Colvard, Ltd. manufactures, markets, and distributes Moissanite jewels for use in fine jewelry in the United States and internationally. It offers near-colorless moissanite jewels cut in various shapes, including round, square brilliant, cushion, radiant, pear, marquise, and oval in sizes ranging from approximately 2 to 12 millimeters, as well as green moissanite jewels. The company primarily sells its loose moissanite jewels to jewel distributors and jewelry manufacturers. It also distributes finished moissanite jewelry to various retailers, including television shopping channels. Charles and Colvard, Ltd. company was founded in 1995 and is based in Morrisville, North Carolina.

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.

Academy is near the head of the class among sporting goods retailers. It is one of the leading full-line sporting goods chains in the US with about 120 Academy Sports + Outdoors stores in Texas and some 10 other states in the Southeast. Academy's low-frills stores carry clothing, shoes, and equipment for almost any sport and outdoor activity, including camping, golf, hunting, fishing, and boating. The company, which also operates a catalog and e-commerce site, dates back to a San Antonio tire shop opened by Max Gochman in 1938. The business moved into military surplus items and during the 1980s began focusing on sports and outdoor goods. The Gochman family still owns Academy and is run by CEO David Gochman.

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