Aaron Brothers has its hand in custom-framing and crafting. Aaron Brothers, Inc. opened its first shop in Los Angeles in 1946; today it operates some 150 stores in about 10 states. Its stores are located mostly in Texas and in the western US, but also reach to Georgia and Virginia. Aaron Brothers stores offer ready-made frames and mattes, art supplies, and custom framing services. A subsidiary of big brother hobby-retailer Michaels Stores, Aaron Brothers stores average about 5,600 sq. ft. and offer its customers some 7,100 products. Parent company Michaels Stores was taken private in 2006 by a pair of private equity firms (Bain Capital Partners and The Blackstone Group).

MyOfficeProducts company provides more than 35,000 office products, including supplies (paper, desk organizers), furniture (chairs, lighting), and technology (printers, computer accessories). MyOfficeProducts also offers an eco-friendly product line with recycled paper, garbage containers, folders, and other items. MyOfficeProducts operates more than 80 sales offices and distribution centers across the US and Canada. The company, which has more than 100 local sales associates, provides a variety of rebates and gift certificates with some of its purchases.

Signature Brands International (SBI) is a fashion jewelry and watch wholesaler that sells to retail and duty-free stores, domestically and internationally. SBI's vast products portfolio includes Carlo Orsini (sterling silver and cubic zirconium), Colibri of London (men's accessories), Daring Diamonds (affordable diamond jewelry), Krementz (14k gold religious and inspirational jewelry), and Skagen Watches, among other items. Owner and President Carolyn Morgan founded SBI in 2001 after spending 18 years in the duty-free buying business.

Founded in 1986, Party City was acquired by principal owners of Amscan -- the private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Weston Presidio -- for $364 million in 2005. Party City believes you should party hearty and has everything you need to do so. Party City Corporation, the US's #1 discount party goods chain, has more than 600 company-owned and franchised stores in the US and Puerto Rico. It sells party supplies for birthdays, weddings and bridal showers, baby showers, and a slew of holiday events -- including Halloween, its biggest selling season, accounting for about 20% of annual revenues. Party City is a division of party decor wholesaler and retailer Amscan Holdings, which supplies much of its merchandise.

Complete Office was formed by the merger of two competing San Diego office supply companies: Grove Office Supply and Del Mar Office Products. Looking for supplies and furniture to make your office complete? Complete Office of California can help. Through warehouses in Southern California and Wisconsin, the company distributes workplace necessities and accessories, including paper, writing implements, custom stamps, computer supplies, cleaning agents, and break room items, as well as office furniture. It also provides space planning and furniture installation services. Customers have included AMN Healthcare, the San Diego Padres, and Graham Webb International.

Book Wholesalers, Inc., known as BWI, keeps the libraries stocked with both books and children. The company is a full service provider of children's and young adult books, e-books, and audiovisual items to more than 2,200 public library systems. BWI is a subsidiary of retail and wholesale textbook distributor Follet Corporation. Some of the company's services utilized by libraries include electronic materials ordering, cataloging and processing, collection development support (of books, not money), book binding, and opening day activities organization. Founded in 1987, BWI was acquired by Follet in 1997.

Central States Bus Sales sells new and used school and commercial buses to education, transit, and corporate entities. The largest distributor of Blue Bird buses in the nation, it has four sales and service facilities serving Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In addition to Blue Bird, the company also offers new and used Girardin and Trans Tech school buses and six brands of new and used commercial buses. Central States sells bus parts, including seat belt and monitoring systems, and conducts training classes on specific bus models. The company was formed in 1975 by bus salesman Steve Rustman.The wheels on the bus go round and round and Central States Bus Sales plans to keep it that way.

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.

Proftech was founded in 1980, but it was first conceived the company in a college paper Montiel wrote about recession-proof industries. No matter what the economic outlook, people will always need office supplies. That was president Jose Montiel's theory when he started Proftech, a major distributor of office products and supplies to customers throughout the US. The company offers next-day delivery with no minimum order. Aside from the customary pens and notepads, Proftech supplies innovative products such as SMART Technologies' "smart board" and its own oil clean-up material, HTP. The company's products are distributed through about 50 facilities nationwide and can be ordered over the phone or online.

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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