Cumberland Farms now operates a network of about 600 convenience stores and gas stations in about a dozen eastern seaboard states from Maine to Florida. The company operates its own grocery distribution and bakery operations to supply its stores, as well. Cumberland owns a two-thirds limited partnership in petroleum wholesaler Gulf Oil LP, giving it the right to use and license Gulf trademarks in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, most of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the New England states. The first convenience-store operator in New England, Cumberland was founded in 1939 by Vasilios and Aphrodite Haseotes. The Haseotes' descendants, including chairman Lily Haseotes Bentas, own the company.

Cumberland General Store markets items that would be appropriate for a rural home or farm in the 19th century. The company sells appliances, hardware, toys, kitchen supplies, and other products (that typically require little or no electricity) from a single store in Alpharetta, Georgia, as well as through its well-known catalog and online. Customers include back-to-nature enthusiasts, residents of areas without electricity, and producers of period movies and television shows. In 2005 the store and company moved from Crossville, Tennessee, to its current location in Georgia.

Dollar General's at ease with living off the crumbs of Wal-Mart. The retailer commands a chain of more than 9,000 discount stores in 35 states, primarily in the southern and eastern US, the Midwest, and the Southwest. Offering basic household items, such as cleaning supplies and health and beauty aids, as well as some apparel and food, it targets low-, middle-, and fixed-income shoppers. Stores are generally located in small towns off the radar of giant discounters. Its big-city stores (about 30% of its total) are situated in lower-income neighborhoods. Some 25% of its merchandise is priced at $1 or less. Two years after being taken private by affiliates of KKR and Goldman Sachs, the chain went public in 2009.

Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. operates as a regional broad line retailer in the central United States. The company operates ALCO stores that offer a line of merchandise consisting of approximately 35,000 items, including automotive, candy, crafts, domestics, electronics, fabrics, furniture, hardware, jewelry, pre-recorded music and video, and stationery products, as well as health and beauty aids, housewares, sporting goods, seasonal items, and toys. It also offers ladies', men's, and children's apparel and shoes. In addition, the company also operates Duckwall stores, which offer a limited selection of merchandise. As of February 16, 2010, it operated 258 stores in 23 states in the central United States. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Abilene, Kansas.

E-Z Mart Stores founder Jim Yates kept his first convenience store in Ashdown, Arkansas, open until 11. The company now boasts 300 outlets across five southern states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas). Rather than build its own stores, the company usually expands through acquisitions. In addition to the standard hot dogs, chips, sodas, and cigarettes, most E-Z Mart locations also offer Shell, Conoco, Phillips 66, or CITGO gasoline. Yates died in late 1998 when the plane he was piloting crashed, leaving his daughter Sonja Hubbard at the company's helm as CEO.

Englefield Oil Company supplies fuel and lubricants and operates about 100 convenience stores under the Duke and Duchess Shoppe banner in Ohio and West Virginia. Many of the company's convenience stores sell BP brand gasoline. In addition, Englefield Oil operates several truck stops, a pair of Super 8 motels, several Taco Bell Express restaurants, and other various businesses in Ohio and West Virginia. Englefield also operates more than a dozen Pacific Pride automated commercial fueling sites. Chairman F. W. "Bill" Englefield III founded the company in 1961 with three service stations and an office operating out of his basement.

Japanese take the family to FamilyMart, the country's #3 convenience store chain behind market leader Seven-Eleven Japan and LAWSON. About half of the fast-growing company's 15,000 stores are in Japan. FamilyMart also operates shops in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the US. The chain opened its first store in Shanghai in 2004 and has grown to number about 220 stores in China. FamilyMart entered the US market in 2005 and now operates about 15 upscale convenience stores in the Los Angeles area under the Famima banner. Many more are planned. To further strengthen its retail network, FamilyMart in December 2009 acquired smaller rival am/pm Japan Co. from owner REX Holdings.

Fred Meyer Stores went out for groceries and wound up in Kroger's cart. Freddy's -- as the chain is known -- is a supercenter pioneer providing food and general merchandise to cost-conscious consumers in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. One of the largest supercenter operators in the US (along with Wal-Mart and Costco Wholesale), Fred Meyer's more than 125 multidepartment stores (averaging 155,000 sq. ft.) offer everything from apparel and home goods to groceries, consumer electronics, fuel, and jewelry. Its Web store delivers to the Alaska Bush. Kroger has leveraged Fred Meyer's general merchandising expertise as defense against Wal-Mart, which has overtaken Kroger as the #1 seller of groceries in the US.

Fred's, Inc. and its subsidiaries sell general merchandise through retail discount stores and pharmacies in the southeastern United States. It offers pharmaceuticals, household goods, food and tobacco products, apparel and linens, health and beauty aids, household cleaning supplies, disposable diapers, pet foods, paper products, and various beverage products principally to low, middle, and fixed income families. The company also sells general merchandise to franchised Fred's stores. As of April 3, 2010, it operated 669 discount general merchandise stores, including 24 franchised stores. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

Gabriel Brothers sells discounted brand-name clothing through more than 100 stores, under the Gabriel Brothers (commonly called "Gabes") and Rugged Wearhouse banners. Stores are located in about a dozen East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states. The company's offerings include men's, women's, and children's apparel and footwear, as well as housewares, with markdowns as high as 70% off of their original retail prices. It carries such brands as Anne Klein, Kenneth Cole, and Liz Claiborne. The family-run company was established in 1961 by James and Arthur Gabriel.

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