Seaman and sail maker Thomas Black founded Blacks in 1861, when he offered his sails for sale. From there, the company moved on to tents, eventually offering camping gear and sporting goods. Now Blacks Leisure Group (BLG) sells outdoor gear and apparel through more than 300 stores throughout the UK and Ireland under the Blacks, Freespirit, and Millets banners. With 200-plus stores, Millets is the UK's largest outdoor retailer. The smaller Blacks chain sells North Face, Merrell, and Coleman brand merchandise and its owns brands from about 90 shops. BLG has been closing stores in its boardwear chain Freespirit, which now operates only about a dozen locations. Rival Sports Direct owns about 28% of BLG.

American Service Center was founded in 1937 by Saul Brooks and his brother-in-law Saul Gordon. It was located at the intersection of Glebe Road and North Randolph Street in Arlington, Virginia. Although the business has gone through many changes, it is still at the same location operating as a Mercedes-Benz dealership. Today, it is owned and operated by the second and third generations of it's founders. The daily operation of the business is now in the capable hands of Alvin Brooks and Morton Zetlin, the son and son-in-law of Saul Brooks. Mark Zetlin, Morton's son, is currently the New Mercedes-Benz Sales Manager. American Service Center, through the hard work and dedication of over 300 employees, has achieved and maintained great success in the Washington Region of Mercedes-Benz USA. By constantly paying attention to Customer Satisfaction and remembering Saul Brooks' most often used directive "Take care of the Customer, that's the main thing", ASC ranks either 1st or 2nd in: New Mercedes-Benz sales; Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned sales; Service sales; Parts sales; and Body Shop sales. Our Body Shop is, not only 'Fully Certified' by Mercedes-Benz USA, but also is an 'authorized' and 'designated' repair facility for both GEICO and USAA insurance companies.

Nourison is the leading multi-category resource in today’s floor covering market. Our company offers comprehensive programs from signature handmade area rug collections such as Nourison 2000, to prestige designer lines like Calvin Klein, to the best-selling powerloom carpets of Ashton House, to the Grand Parterre collection which represents an unparalleled level of luxury and sophistication in broadloom construction. Throughout the United States and Europe, prominent retailers rely on Nourison for merchandise assortments recognized for their unique combination of beauty, craftsmanship, and value in virtually every price and construction category.With a consistent and monumental backup inventory on over 4500 sku’s in area rugs alone, Nourison ships over 95% of our orders within 48 hours. This commitment to maintaining an outstanding in-stock position is a special point of pride throughout the company. Nourison’s state-of-the-art website makes doing business with us as easy and convenient as turning on a computer screen. With the click of a mouse, retailers can check our stock, place an order, and check their order status, all without leaving the office. Likewise, our dealer support program includes constantly updated printed materials and also highly cost-effective promotional materials for consumer outreach. Our in-house Marketing Department creates catalogues, videos, mailers, and inserts that enable our retailers to maintain a highly effective and targeted dialogue with their customers.

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.

Cascio Music Company, Inc (aka Interstate Music or CIM) sells musical instruments, audio and lighting equipment, sheet music, recording software, DVDs, accessories, and more at its 30,000-square-foot superstore in New Berlin, Wisconsin and online. CIM sells, rents, and repairs all types of instruments, offers music lessons, and has an in-store 48-track digital recording studio for use by bands and other groups. The company supports local budding musicians with free clinics and scholarships along with its "Local Music Showcase." Founded in 1946 by WWII vet Frank Cascio, the company added its mail order department in 1970 to deliver musical instruments to rural school band leaders.

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.

Like Ellis Island in the past, Cruise America welcomes thousands of Europeans each year. Cruise America is the US's largest recreational vehicle renter with about 20 company-owned stores, some 120 dealer locations, and a 3,000-vehicle rental fleet of RVs (cab-over motor homes). For those who choose to cruise north of the US-Canada border, Cruise America boasts locations in Canada. Up to a million dollars in liability insurance is included with each rental. The company allows its customers (nearly half of whom are foreign) to have the freedom of the open road while saving money on travel and lodging costs. It also sells its used trucks, along with new and used RVs, through RV Depot dealerships.

iParty Corp. engages in the sale of party goods and services through its retail stores in New England and Florida, the United States. Its stores feature approximately 20,000 products comprising paper party goods, Halloween costumes, greeting cards, and balloons, as well as merchandise, such as pinatas, tiny toys, masquerade, and Hawaiian Luau items. iParty Corp. also offers party planning advice and relevant information services, as well as licenses the name iParty.com to a third party. As of December 26, 2009, it operated 26 stores in Massachusetts, 7 in Connecticut, 6 in New Hampshire, 3 in Rhode Island, 3 in Maine, 1 in Vermont, and 5 stores in Florida. iParty Corp. was founded in 1998 and is based in Dedham, Massachusetts.

Big 5 Sporting Goods has outgrown its name. The company, which started out with five army surplus shops in California in 1955, is a leading sporting goods retailer with about 385 stores in a dozen mostly Western states, including California, Washington, and Arizona. The company sells brand-name (adidas, Coleman, Easton) and private-label equipment, apparel, and footwear for indoor and outdoor activities such as camping, hunting, fishing, tennis, golf, and snowboarding. Big 5 has stuck with a neighborhood-store format (averaging approximately 11,000 square feet) instead of opening massive superstores. Big 5 Sporting Goods is run by its chairman and CEO Steven Miller, the son of company co-founder Robert Miller.

Tattered Cover Book Store, an independent seller of new books in Denver. Tattered Cover stocks some half a million titles in three locations: inside the Lowenstein Theater on Colfax Avenue, historic lower downtown (LoDo) Denver, and suburb Highlands Ranch. Each store encourages customers to linger by offering overstuffed chairs and reading lamps. Tattered Cover attracts customers with activities such as book groups for adults and children and author readings and signings. The company was founded by owner and CEO Joyce Meskis, a former librarian, in 1974.

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