Famed toy store FAO Schwarz is a kid pleaser, but as a business it's had its ups and downs. The oldest toy store in the US charms the young (and young at heart) at its landmark store on New York's Fifth Avenue where it sells unique, hard-to-find toys, such as life-size stuffed bears and $50,000 kid-size Ferraris. A major tourist attraction, it hosts more than 3 million visitors each year. Being a kid itself, FAO Schwarz has a sweet tooth, with its sweets shop called FAO Schweetz. After years of unprofitable expansion in an age where mass merchants, such as Wal-Mart, rule toy retailing, it's down to a single location, a catalog, and a website. Toy titan Toys "R" Us added FAO Schwarz to its toy chest in 2009.

Zale Corporation operates as a specialty retailer of fine jewelry. The company operates through three segments: Fine Jewelry, Kiosk Jewelry, and All Other. The Fine Jewelry segment operates under five brands. Its Zales Jewelers brand provides diamond jewelry primarily in the bridal and fashion segments through 693 stores in 50 states and Puerto Rico; Gordon's Jewelers brand provides jewelry in 202 stores in 31 states of the United States and Puerto Rico; the Peoples Jewellers and Mappins Jewellers brands offer gold jewelry, gemstone jewelry, and watches through 212 stores in Canada; and Zales Outlet brand offers branded watches, gemstones, gold merchandise, and diamond fashion and solitaire products through 140 stores in 36 states and Puerto Rico. The Fine Jewelry segment also sells its products through e-commerce sites, such as zales.com and gordonsjewelers.com. The Kiosk Jewelry segment provides gold and silver products, such as bracelets, earrings, charms, rings, 14 karat and 10 karat gold chains, and silver and diamond jewelry primarily under Piercing Pagoda, Plumb Gold, and Silver and Gold Connection brand names, through 684 mall-based kiosks. The All Other segment provides insurance and reinsurance facilities for various types of insurance coverage, such as merchandise replacement coverage, credit insurance coverage, and discontinued lines of insurance. Zale Corporation was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center sells musical instruments (guitars, keyboards, drums, and band and orchestra instruments), as well as professional audio, disc jockey, and lighting equipment from a single store in Wheaton, Maryland. Its sister company, Washington Professional Systems, sells and installs high-end audio and video equipment for stadiums, boardrooms, schools, and religious institutions, as well as home theaters. The family-owned and -operated company was founded in 1968 by Marge and Chuck Levin. Chuck's son Robert took over the business in 2002 following the death of his father.

EZCORP, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, lends or provides credit services to individuals to meet their short-term cash needs. It offers pawn loans, which are non recourse loans collateralized by tangible personal property, including jewelry, consumer electronics, tools, sporting goods, and musical instruments. The company also provides signature loans consisting of payday loans, installment loans, auto title loans, or fee-based credit services to customers seeking loans. In addition, EZCORP provides credit services, including advice and assistance to customers in obtaining loans from unaffiliated lenders. As of September 30, 2009, it operated a total of 910 locations consisting of 369 the U.S. pawnshops, 62 pawnshops in Mexico, 477 the U.S. short-term loan stores, and 2 short-term loan stores in Canada. EZCORP, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

B&T primarily serves two types of markets. Its core business distributes books, videos, and music, and provides value-added services to thousands of school, public, and specialty libraries worldwide. The firm's retail unit supplies storefront and Internet book and music retailers, as well as independent booksellers, with a million book titles and about 385,000 DVD and CD titles. On the Internet (where it formerly operated as Informata.com), B&T offers B2B e-commerce fulfillment services. B&T is owned by investment firm Castle Harlan.

VOW Europe pledges to be the UK and Ireland's one-stop shop for workplace essentials. VOW Europe Ltd. is a wholesale distributor of office supplies to dealers and resellers. Its offerings total more than 20,000 products, including stationery, toner, planners, business machines (calculators, printers), office furniture, and break room supplies. Besides brand-name office necessities, VOW Europe Ltd. markets supplies from Q Connect, a brand of the InterACTION distributors alliance in Europe; VOW is a member of the alliance. Chairman Richard Martin led a buyout of the firm, formerly known as Kingfield Heath, in 2007. It was merged with ISA Wholesale to form VOW. VOW Europe Ltd. is a unit of the Vasanta Group.

Empire Music distributes musical instruments, books, and related accessories to music educators in Canada and the US. Products include various books and instruments related to the Suzuki method of music education and theory, bells, drums, guitars, recorders, ukuleles, and xylophones (they even carry stepping stone-style xylophones and giant floor piano keyboards). It carries brands Suzuki Orff, Aulos Recorders, Challenger, and Emus. The company has been trading for more than a half-century.

The chain was acquired by Tiffany in 2002, but Tiffany sold Little Switzerland to NXP Corporation for $32.9 million in 2007. There's nothing neutral about Little Switzerland's definitively upscale stores. The company operates about 25 mostly duty-free stores that sell jewelry, watches, crystal, china, and other gift items priced from $20 to more than $10,000. Its stores, located on 11 Caribbean islands and in Key West, Florida, appeal to tourists (mostly from the US) looking to avoid the import taxes they would pay at home -- especially passengers on the cruise ship lines that ply the waters in those areas.

Lentuo International Inc. operates as an automobile retailer in the People’s Republic of China. It sells passenger vehicles, auto parts, and accessories; offers automobile repair and maintenance services; and provides a channel for vehicle manufacturers to gather customer feedback. The company also offers its customers assistance with procuring automobile insurance and financing and other automobile-related services. In addition, Lentuo International provides luxury or specialty vehicles on rent for business use by corporations or corporate executives. As of June 30, 2010, it operated 6 franchise dealerships, 10 automobile showrooms, and 1 automobile repair shop in the Beijing metropolitan area. The company was founded in 1994 and is based in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.

Founded in 1972, McCoy Workplace Solutions is currently led by president and CEO Stan Bunting. McCoy Workplace Solutions is the real McCoy when it comes to business furniture. It will sell it to you -- then come help arrange it. McCoy Workplace Solutions supplies everything you need to furnish an office -- desks, chairs, tables, cubicle systems, lighting, and even floor coverings. McCoy Workplace Solutions sells both new and used furniture from more than 200 manufacturers, including Interface, NuCraft, and Steelcase. McCoy also provides services such as furniture rental, installation, maintenance, project management, and repairs.

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