Argos is one of the UK's leading retail outlets with about 745 locations throughout the country and in Ireland. The chain sells a wide variety of products, including consumer electronics, electrical appliances, jewelry, and toys, as well as other household goods and furniture. It also sells gardening supplies, power tools, and sporting equipment. In addition to its stores, Argos sells goods through its catalog and Web site. It is the flagship brand of the Home Retail Group (formerly Argos Retail Group), which was spun-off by GUS and began trading on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. You might not find the Golden Fleece, but this multi-channel, general merchandise retailer offers plenty of other treasures.

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.

Sapp Bros Travel Centers (formerly Sapp Bros Truck Stops) has the usual air, gas, food, but also offers human conveniences such such as laundry rooms, mailbox rentals, private showers, and TV lounges. The company operates a chain of some 15 truck stops -- readily identifiable by the giant red-and-white coffeepot logo -- along interstate highways from Utah to Pennsylvania; with a concentration in Nebraska. Half of the locations also operate service centers, offering oil changes, new tires, and safety checks. Its sister company, Sapp Bros Petroleum, distributes petroleum products in Nebraska and western Iowa. The firm is run by CEO Bill Sapp, one of the four founding Sapp brothers.

Midlands Co-op also boasts a portfolio of investment properties. The group has grown through the years by means of mergers with some 65 other societies, such as its agreement with the Ilkeston Consumer Co-operative Society in late 2006.Midlands Co-operative Society Limited is no newcomer to the co-op movement. The co-op is the largest independent retail society in the UK. Midlands Co-op's primary activities include retail, travel, funeral services, and transportation. The organization's more than 400 trading outlets span supermarkets, post offices, convenience stores, travel shops, and funeral homes

Founded by Banks Kerr in 1951, the chain was sold in 1995 to retailer J. C. Penney. A management group led by Kerr CEO Anthony Civello and CFO Richard Johnson later took Kerr Drug private. Oh, you can buy knick-knacks and doo-dads at a Kerr Drug store, but the company that bills itself as "North Carolina's Drugstore" puts its primary focus on pharmacy operations, which account for about two-thirds of sales. Kerr Drug operates about 90 stores in North Carolina in several formats, ranging from large health care centers to smaller clinical hubs and traditional drugstores. In addition to dispensing prescriptions and over-the-counter medications, its pharmacists dispense health care advice and patient information.

Etablissements Delhaize Freres Et Cie “Le Lion” S.A. (Delhaize Group), together with its subsidiaries, operates food supermarkets in North America, Europe, and southeast Asia. It also engages in food wholesaling to affiliated stores and independent wholesale customers; and in retailing of non- food products, such as pet products. Delhaize Group’s sales network also includes other store formats, such as proximity stores and specialty stores. As of September 30, 2010, its sales network consisted of 2,760 stores. Delhaize Group was founded in 1867 and is based in Brussels, Belgium.

Popular culture goes on sale every day at Bloomingdale's. It runs about 40 upscale stores in a dozen states, including California, Florida, Illinois, and New York. The company's flagship store at 59th and Lexington is a Manhattan institution and tourist attraction in its own right. A smaller Manhattan store opened in downtown's SoHo neighborhood in 2004. In 2010 Bloomies opened its first store outside the US: a 200,000-square-foot outlet in Dubai. Founded in 1872 by brothers Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale, the store rode the popularity of the hoop skirt to sales success and practically invented the department store concept at the start of the 20th Century. Bloomingdale's is a division of Macy's, Inc.

Founded in 1980, Room & Board operates about a dozen stores in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and the District of Columbia. The company's furniture collections feature contemporary sofas, chairs, and tables (dining and accent), as well as office, bedroom, and outdoor furniture. Room & Board's Shop From Home operation, which consists of a print catalog and website, is the fastest-growing segment of its business. And despite a slump in furniture sales in the US, the company is expanding.

E & S International Enterprises, Inc was founded in 1945 as an electronics distributor. E & S International Enterprises (also known as ESI) has its fingers in a lot of pies. E & S International Enterprises, Inc manufactures and sells a variety of consumer products through its subsidiaries. Once a consumer electronics distributor, the company has expanded its product line to include such items as sporting goods, mobile phone batteries, and appliances. It also acts a broker between manufacturers and retailers, sometimes handling warranty and support functions for the makers. ESI is also in the business of acquiring commercial and residential real estate.

A chic alternative to the mall sprawl of the suburban shopping center, Elisa Wen's Walnut Creek and San Francisco stores offer 14 different lines of clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, and shoes. The upscale purveyor of women's and children's apparel offers ready-to-wear items such as Hudson jeans and Splendid tee shirts, as well as a wide array of cocktail wear, including evening outfits from Catherine Malandrino, D & G, Miguelina, and Rebecca Taylor. The stores also sell items under such brands as a L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, True Religion, Rock & Republic, Susana Monaco, and Michael Stars.

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