Lakeshore Equipment Company aims to make learning fun. Through about 50 Lakeshore Learning Stores in two dozen states, Lakeshore Equipment company sells educational toys and classroom tools, including art supplies, games, learning kits, textbooks, and teacher resource packets. It also offers products that address multicultural learning environments and special needs children, as well as in-store teacher workshops. In addition to its store network, Lakeshore Equipment markets learning materials via its two mail-order catalogs and website. Ethelyn Kaplan founded Lakeshore Equipment company in 1954. Today it is run by her son Michael (chairman) and grandsons Bo (president and CEO) and Josh (VP of Merchandising).

Levenger began when Lori Granger Leveen and her husband, Steve, said: "Let there be lighting!" The company, which got its start in 1987 by selling halogen lights for reading, has fashioned itself into the provider of "Tools for Serious Readers." The direct marketer offers an assortment of branded and private-label home and office accessories and furniture. Its products include bookcases, briefcases, leather armchairs, lap desks, inkwells, pens, pillows, stationery, and of course, lighting products. Levenger (which derives its name from combining Leveen and Granger) sells its merchandise through its catalog, website, and retail stores in Boston; Chicago; Boca Raton, Florida; and the Washington, DC, area.

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.

DirectGroup Bertelsmann GmbH runs book clubs especially popular in Europe and Asia under such brands as Der Club in Germany, France Loisirs in France, and Circulo de Lectores in Spain. Club members can access its products through mail-order catalogs, the Internet, or one of 800 retail stores worldwide. DirectGroup Bertelsmann boasts 35 million members worldwide and operates in more than 20 countries. The company is a division of German media firm Bertelsmann AG, which sold its faltering American book club operations in 2008 to focus on Europe and Asia.

Founded in 1932, the firm is majority owned by private equity firm The Carlyle Group. Brentwood Associates owns about a 25% stake. Oriental Trading Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2010 and is reorganizing. Party planners don't have to travel to stock up at Oriental Trading Company. The company sells more than 30,000 products, including party supplies, toys and novelties, arts and crafts, and home decor through its websites and catalogs. It mails about 300 million copies of its seasonal catalogs, which include such titles as Oriental Trading Company, Terry's Village, Crafts, Hands on Fun, and Inspirations. Oriental Trading supplies carnivals, schools, churches, nonprofits, and businesses.

Internet Brands was founded in 1998 as CarsDirect.com. CarsDirect quickly gained popularity with consumers and advertisers, winning numerous industry awards, such as one of the "50 Best" websites in the world by Time Magazine, a "Top 100 Classic Website" by PC Magazine, and a "Top Site for Buying or Selling Anything" by PC World. But that success was only a seedling. In 2005, the company began an enormous transition - from a single vertical to a diversified, platform company that would scale much larger. In 2006, the company changed its name to Internet Brands and started to accelerate its diversification and growth. On November 16, 2007, Internet Brands became a public company, listing on the NASDAQ exchange with ticker symbol INET.In 2008 and 2009, the company continued to grow its EBITDA profitability and its "same store" revenue at double digits, despite the recession.

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).

Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Company was established in 1904 as Mitchell & Ness Sporting Goods, then specializing in stringing tennis rackets and making custom golf clubs. It was acquired by the Adidas Sports Licensed Division, part of adidas AG, in late 2007. Mitchell & Ness would like to take you by the hand and guide you down that path fondly known as Memory Lane. The company is a manufacturer of authentic vintage sports apparel and accessories including vintage jerseys from MLB, the NBA, NFL, and NHL. It licenses the CLC College Vault label for apparel that spotlights school such as Notre Dame, Michigan, and Colorado. Mitchell & Ness creates detailed reproductions of jerseys from certain years and those worn by particular athletes.

John Huarte, Founder and CEO, graduated from the University of Notre Dame and was awarded the Heisman Trophy in 1964 as quarterback of the Fighting Irish. After spending several years as a professional football player, John and his wife, Eileen, opened a small tile store in San Diego in 1977. Arizona Tile, L.L.C. has since grown to include more than twenty-five locations in seven western states, with products distributed to both residential and commercial customers. Since 1977, Arizona Tile has searched the globe in pursuit of truly extraordinary surfaces. Through relationships with select quarries and suppliers, Arizona Tile proudly offers a vast selection of granite, travertine, onyx, slate, marble and limestone, including stunning tile and stone you won't find anywhere else on Earth. Our treasure of surfaces also includes beautiful and unique medallions, porcelain, tile and other design creations and applications that bring drama and enchantment to any space. To experience, first-hand, surfaces that are truly extraordinary, you need only travel as far as one of our engaging showrooms. There you will personally discover stunning surfaces you won't find anywhere else on Earth, and make their unparalleled magic a part of your world.

The Birthdays concept was later launched in 1986. Clinton Cards purchased its rival Birthdays in 2004 and runs the unit as a separate business. Amid economic turmoil and slowed consumer spending, however, Birthdays collapsed into administration (the equivalent of bankruptcy in the US) in 2009. You say it's your birthday? Well, your friends better run to a Birthdays store for those cards! The company operates about 200 (down from more than 400) Birthdays stores in the UK and Ireland offering discount greeting cards and party supplies for every occasion. Founded in 1966 as Ron Wood Greeting Cards, the company was originally a distributor of cards and gift wrap until the mid-1970s when it opened three card shops.

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