E-machitown is happy to lend its bank of servers and Web-hosting expertise to those who are willing to shell out a little Yen. The company, owned by Japan's largest reseller of mobile phones and formerly named Crayfish, provides Web-hosting services in Japan. As part of its business, e-machitown offers an e-mail service called DESKWIN, resells Internet advertising space, and develops custom software products. Since early 2009, e-machitown has been a 15% owner in a Tokyo joint venture named Alibaba Japan that sells products online. Telecommunications services provider Hikari Tsushin, which specializes in cell phone and Internet services and distribution among other things, owns 82% of e-machitown.

Jeg's Automotive Inc. operates a warehouse, chassis shop, call centers, and a distribution center in the metropolitan Columbus area. It's a family affair at Jeg's Automotive, and it's even a little racy. The family-owned retail speed shop business is owned and operated by four racing brothers - Jeg Jr., John, Troy, and Mike Coughlin - who took over the business their dad, Jeg Sr., started back in 1960. Jeg's Automotive operates online and from a pair of stores in Ohio (in Columbus and Reynoldsburg) to supply high-performance parts for domestic and import cars, street rods, Pro Stock cars, and sportsman-level and bracket racing cars.

American TV even makes house calls to fix large appliances, regardless of where it was purchased. Ferd Mattioli founded American TV & Appliance of Madison, Inc. in 1954. American TV & Appliance of Madison is happy to outfit your entire house, including your upscale kitchen. American TV & Appliance of Madison, Inc. sells appliances, electronics, and furniture in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Its 15 retail outlets generate annual sales of about $500 million and offer such products as recliners, dining room sets, mattresses, car stereos, CD players, dishwashers, refrigerators, personal computers, digital cameras, plasma and LCD TVs, and DVD players. American TV & Appliance of Madison, Inc. also has two distribution centers and a service center offering parts and repairs.

E. W. James & Sons also operates a Calla Lily gift store, pharmacy, and catering business. Established in 1934, E. W. James & Sons is run by the third generation of the James family.E. W. James & Sons operates about two dozen supermarkets mostly in Tennessee, but also in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Serving smaller communities with its namesake stores and several Save-A-Lot locations, the regional player is battling both supercenters and super-regional grocers. Its stores feature large fresh produce, meat, and bakery departments. In 2004, the supermarket operator purchased 10 supermarkets in Kentucky from Winn-Dixie, when the ailing grocery chain exited the Kentucky market.

HOM Furniture, Inc is a middle-market to high-end home furnishings retailer operating more than a dozen stores in Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. HOM stores offer wooden (cherry, maple, oak, pine), upholstered (including leather), and patio furniture, as well as mattresses, area rugs, and other decorative accessories. Many locations also provide free design consultations to assist customers with buying decisions. In addition to its namesake chain, HOM operates Gabberts Design Studio & Fine Furnishings, based in Edina, Minnesota. HOM's retailing roots reach back to 1973, when CEO Wayne Johansen established JC Imports, the chain's forerunner.

C&A targets budget-conscious shoppers from Sao Paulo to Shanghai and all points in between. The company sells moderately priced apparel for men, women, and children through more than 1,600 stores in Brazil, Mexico, China, and about 20 European countries (where the majority of its network is concentrated), as well as online. Its portfolio of a dozen in-house brands include Clockhouse, Westbury, and Your Sixth Sense. The Brenninkmeijer family owns the company through Switzerland-based COFRA Holding. Brenninkmeijer men hold nearly all the top positions within the business, which traces its roots back to 1841, when the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer opened a textile warehouse in the Netherlands.

Tuesday Morning offers big discounts every day of the week, but not every week of the year. The closeout retailer sells discontinued merchandise from name-brand manufacturers at steep discounts. Its merchandise typically includes linens, china, cookware, rugs, and collectibles that are not seconds, irregulars, or factory rejects. Tuesday Morning's 850 stores, located in more than 40 states, operate only during monthly "sale events" (with the exception of January and July). The retailer keeps costs down by selling from low-rent locations and using seasonal help -- only about 20% of its workers are full-time employees. Its customers are primarily women from middle- and upper-income households.

Vermont sells a little bit of everything, from soap to sleepwear, from its Web site and catalog. Products offered by The Vermont Country Store include apparel, cosmetics and skin care products, bed and table linens, sleepwear, swimwear, footwear, baked goods, and candies. Vrest and Ellen Orton opened the company's first store in Weston in 1946. Its Rockingham shop opened in 1967. Today the business is run by their son, Lyman Orton.

Thrifty White Drug Stores is big on small towns. The pharmacy chain operates about 85 traditional drugstores in rural Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. While most stores are located in shopping centers or strip malls, about 10 pharmacies operate in supermarkets and health clinics. Thrifty White Drug Stores is employee-owned and typically locates its shops in towns with populations of 1,000 to 90,000 people. Thrifty White Drug Stores also has several tele-pharmacies in North Dakota to serve communities that are too small to support a full-scale retail pharmacy. Thrifty White Drug Stores traces its roots to a single store opened in the Dakota Territory of Jamestown in 1884.

Acting as a holding company for subsidiaries The Brick Warehouse LP (dba The Brick) and United Furniture Warehouse, The Brick Group was founded to take Canada's biggest furniture business public. Other retail banners include The Brick Superstore, Urban Brick, and the unfortunately-named The Brick Mattress Store. Together the five chains offer furniture, mattresses, appliances, and consumer electronics through about 235 retail furniture stores (about 50 are franchise locations) across Canada and the company's Web site, catering to low-, middle-, and high-end consumers. The Brick Group began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2004.

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