Founded in 1998, Service Partners acquired some 40 businesses before being purchased itself by Masco in 2002. If you can't stand the heat, try getting better insulation from Service Partners. Through some 55 centers in about 30 states, the firm is a leading distributor of residential fiberglass insulation and related products, including fireplaces, roofing, gutters, shelving, drywall, and acoustical ceiling material. Contractors and home improvement retailers are Service Partners' primary customers. It also runs more than a dozen laminating facilities that produce insulation for use in prefabricated buildings, as well as a training center where contractors learn how to install the company's products.

Connor Co. was founded as Kinsey & Mahler, a brass valve manufacturer, in 1850. It became Connor Co. in 1936. Goldilocks would like Connor Co. If it's too hot or too cold, the heating and A/C company can make it just right. Through about 20 locations in Illinois and one in St. Louis, the company distributes heating and air conditioning equipment along with boilers, fittings, furnaces, pipes, pumps, valves, wells, and other industrial equipment. Connor company also conducts its business online. Connor Co. boasts sheet metal fabrication and valve automation facilities and peddles Kohler products within its showrooms in many locations.

The Dress Barn, Inc. operates a chain of women's apparel and tween girls’ specialty stores. Its stores primarily offer casual clothing products, career wear products, suit separates, outerwear and footwear products, intimates, and accessories, as well as lifestyle products, such as bedroom furnishings and electronics. The company operates stores under the dressbarn, maurices, and Justice brand names. As of July 31, 2010, it operated 2,477 stores in 48 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, including 887 Justice stores, 757 maurices stores, and 833 dressbarn stores. The Dress Barn, Inc. was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Suffern, New York.

Retail Holdings N.V., through its subsidiary, Singer Asia Limited, engages in the retail distribution of various consumer durable products primarily for homes in Asia. Its products include home appliances, such as air conditioners, dishwashers, kitchen ranges, microwaves, refrigerators, freezers and bottle coolers, washing machines, and dryers, as well as small kitchen appliances and sewing machines; electronic equipment, including color televisions, such as plasma, LCD, and LED products, as well as home theatres, DVD players, personal computers, portable audio products, and telephone and satellite television equipment; and other consumer durables comprising generators, home furnishings, motorcycles, and water heaters. The company also assembles motorcycles, microwaves, washing machines, sewing machines, and televisions; and manufactures freezers, gas appliances, refrigerators, sewing machines, domestic and agricultural water pumps, furniture, and paddy threshers, as well as consumer and industrial electric wire and cable. It distributes products through various channels, such as retail, direct selling, wholesale, licensing, and third party distribution channels. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 231 Singer Plus retail stores and 43 satellite shops in Bangladesh; 169 Singer Plus retail stores in Pakistan; and 162 Singer Plus retail stores, 12 Singer Mega stores, 42 Sisil World retail stores, 12 Singer Homes furniture showrooms, and 128 Singer satellite shops in Sri Lanka. In addition, it provides consumer credit and other financial services. The company was formerly known as Singer N.V. and changed its name to Retail Holdings N.V. in September 2004. Retail Holdings N.V. was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Willemstad, the Netherlands Antilles.

Atlantic Plywood Corporation was founded in 1974 by by Nick Cucci and Dave Larson and is owned by its employees. Atlantic Plywood - the name says it all. The company is a wholesale distributor of hardwoods and other mill products along the Atlantic seaboard. It supplies hardwood, softwood, and imported plywood products; medium density fiberboard; cabinet hardware; high-pressure laminates; hardboard; and other items to customers in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. It also supplies architectural panels and doors along with veneers. Atlantic Plywood has nine branches in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

Ideal Shopping Direct (ISD) operates a home shopping television network that reaches some 23 million homes throughout the UK. The company's three channels are: Create and Craft (health and beauty, craft products); Ideal World (general merchandise, including apparel, leisure, craft, home, health and beauty, and jewelry); and Ideal World 2, which runs repeats of selected shows from its sister channels. Paul Wright and Valerie Kaye founded the company in 1999 after a series of failed businesses, seeding the idea for television shopping with a mail-order business and later transferring to TV in 2000.

GNC is owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Board Plan, its affiliate Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund II, and management. GNC filed to go public in September 2010.What's good for the customer is good for GNC Acquisition Corporation (formerly General Nutrition Centers). GNC operates the world's leading nutritional-supplements retail chain devoted solely to items such as vitamins and dietary products. The company also makes Rite Aid private-label products. It sells its products online, as well, through a partnership with drugstore.com. GNC has 2,800 company-owned retail stores in the US and Canada; 1,900 store-within-a-store sites in Rite Aid's drugstores; and 2,220 franchised stores in 47 countries.

Improvement Direct operates a network of about a dozen online retail stores that sell a wide array of home décor items, bath and kitchen appliances, and furniture. Products include everything from lamps to sinks to beds. It offers such brand names as Bosch, Emerson, Kohler, and Moen. Environmentally-conscious consumers also have their choice of energy-saving appliances, faucets, lighting, and water heaters. Improvement Direct ships from about 50 warehouses and through more than 30 vendor partners. The private company was founded in 2000 by president Chris Friedland and EVP Dave Boctor.

In the early 1900s, Herman and Sarah Reitman ran a small department store in Montreal. They would be extremely proud to see that their children and grandchildren have taken their family operated business to such levels and transformed it into one of Canada’s largest fashion retailers. The Reitmans Company was founded after a second store opened in 1926. Since then, a number of stores have opened every year, and other banners have emerged, namely Smart Set, RW&CO., Penningtons, Addition-Elle, Thyme Maternity and Cassis. Today, the Company operates over 950 stores throughout Canada. Reitmans (Canada) Limited is a publicly traded company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RET, RET-A). Although Reitmans (Canada) Limited is one of the largest publicly-owned retail companies in Canada, it still operates with a strong family culture.

Founded in 1989, K&G is owned by The Men's Wearhouse and accounts for nearly 20% of its parent company's sales. After purchasing K&G, Men's Wearhouse converted most of its outlets to the K&G Fashion Superstores banner, and began adding women's and children's apparel to the racks. The feminization of K&G Men's Company is well underway. The retailer operates about 105 deep-discount career apparel superstores in more than 25 states. Its stores feature brand-name and private-label tailored and casual clothing, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and children. The bargain warehouse-type stores average about 23,000 sq. ft. and offer first-run merchandise at prices 30%-60% lower than department stores.

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