Formerly named Hardware Wholesalers, Do it Best was founded in 1945. If you're building a house or fixing one up, you might as well Do it Best -- at least that's the hope of one of the hardware industry's largest cooperatives. Do it Best boasts more than 4,100 member-owned stores in 45-plus countries worldwide, but primarily the US. Besides the usual tools and building materials, merchandise includes automotive items, bicycles, camping gear, housewares, office supplies, and small appliances. Customers can also have products specially shipped to their local stores through Do it Best's e-commerce site. The co-op's buying power enables members to offer items at competitive prices.

QuikTrip provides a quick fix for those on the go. QuikTrip (QT) owns and operates some 535 gasoline/convenience stores in nine states, mostly in the central US. QT stores, which average 4,200 to 5,000 sq. ft., feature the company's own QT brand of gas and diesel fuel, as well as brand-name beverages, candy, and tobacco, and QT's Quik 'n Tasty and HOTZI lines of sandwiches. QT's 15-plus travel centers offer scales, food, fuel, showers, and other services for truckers. The firm's FleetMaster program offers commercial trucking companies detailed reports showing drivers' product purchases, amounts spent, and odometer readings. QT was co-founded in 1958 by chairman Chester Cadieux. His son Chet runs the company.

Menard is owned by president and CEO John Menard, who founded the company in 1972. If sticks and stones break bones, what can two-by-fours and two-inch nails do? That is what Menard is wondering now that its biggest rivals (#1 home improvement giant The Home Depot and #2 Lowe's) are hammering away at its home turf. One of the largest home improvement chains in the Midwest, Menard has more than 250 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The stores sell home improvement products, such as floor coverings, hardware, millwork, paint, and tools. Unlike competitors, all the company's stores have full-service lumberyards.

Founded in 1885, the company is employee-owned. E. C. Barton & Company has the goods if you are expecting visitors at your house and need to add on. The firm, a member of industry cooperative Do It Best, sells lumber and building materials through some 125 locations throughout Texas as well as a dozen other states in the Southeast and the Northeast. Its divisions include Barton's, Builders Material Company, E.C.B. Brokerage and Surplus Purchasing, Surplus Warehouse, and Grossman's Bargain Outlet. E. C. Barton also manages an e-commerce site. Professional builders and remodelers generate most of its revenue.

Richer Sounds stands behind its name. Founded by then-19-year-old Julian Richer, Richer Sounds PLC today is Britain's biggest hi-fi and electronics retailer, selling audio and video electronics gear from more than 40 stores throughout the UK. Stores sell such products as CD and DVD players, home theater systems, plasma and LCD TVs, speakers, turntables, amplifiers, and more. It also sells its wares from its retail company web site (Mr. Richer guarantees that prices in the two media will always match.) Richer Sounds PLC is owned by chairman Julian Richer, who opened his first store at London Bridge in 1978.

Carrefour Italia sources more than 90% of its agricultural food products locally and sells its own brands of food, including the Terre D'Italia and ScelgoBio labels.Europe's leading retailer Carrefour knows that to live la dolce vita, you've got to buy lots of stuff. Its operations in Italy are carried out by Carrefour Italia, one of the country's biggest sellers of food and general merchandise, along with Conad and Coop Italia. Carrefour owns about 495 stores in Italy, which operate under the names Carrefour (about 65 hypermarkets), GS (about 235 supermarkets), DìperDì (some 175 convenience stores), and DocksMarket and GrossIper (about 15 cash-and-carry stores), and franchises more than a thousand others.

Variety is not only the spice of life -- it's also a major purveyor of deeply discounted merchandise. With some 425 stores in about 15 Southeastern states, Variety Wholesalers has survived even Wal-Mart's march through rural America. The company, which has aggressively bought other chains while closing poorly performing stores, tends to set up shop in small towns where the retail giants fear to tread. Its retail outlets sell beauty products, housewares, snacks, toys and more, under banners including Bargain Town, Maxway, Roses, and Super 10. Variety Wholesalers was founded in 1949 by James Pope; the Pope family, including chairman and CEO Art Pope, still runs the company.

J.P. Boden & Co. (better known simply as Boden) is a UK direct retailer of premium casual apparel. The company sells womenswear and menswear under the Boden name, teen apparel under the Johnnie B label, and children's clothing under the Mini Boden brand. It markets the collections through its catalogs and Web site. J.P. Boden also operates two retail stores in the UK. The company got its start in 1991 when chairman Johnnie Boden quit his job as a stockbroker in London to open up his own clothing business. Designing its catalogs to resemble those of J. Crew, the company's first editions featured friends and family striking poses as fashion models. Boden is a 50% owner of the firm.

Reliable Wholesale Lumber has room for plenty of board. Rwl company distributes lumber and other forest products to residential contractors, industrial customers, and retail lumberyards, primarily in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as panels throughout the US. Through about 10 distribution yards in California, the company is able to ship 600 million board feet of lumber, panels, and engineered wood products per year. Product specialties from Reliable Wholesale Lumber include Durawood Douglas fir decking and oriented strand board. Founded in 1971, Reliable Wholesale Lumber is owned by the Higman family, including president Jerry Higman.

Super Warehouse was founded by CEO Russell Schneider in 1997. Super Warehouse may not be faster than a speeding bullet, but it does deliver computers and computer equipment pretty quickly. The privately-held company is a direct online retailer and reseller of more than 50,000 brand-name products -- PCs, notebooks, hardware, software, audio-visual equipment, and peripherals -- from leading manufacturers, such as Apple, Cisco, IBM, Canon, and Xerox, among others. It ships from about 15 warehouse locations throughout the US, usually within 1 to 2 days. Its primary customers include businesses, educational organizations, and government agencies.

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