GasAmerica Services operates a chain of combination gas station/convenience stores under the GasAmerica banner, all found in Indiana and Ohio. Its 90-odd locations offer the usual assortment of food, drinks, and supplies, and, of course, gasoline. The company issues a convenience card for frequent customers that allows users to earn points for rebates, take advantage of special discounts, receive coupons by mail, and enter the monthly sweepstakes for computers and free gas. GasAmerica Services offers biofuels, including E85 (85% ethanol), B10 (10% biodiesel from soybeans). Founded in 1916, the firm has been blending ethanol into gasoline for more than 20 years.

Founded in 1977, Speedy has grown to become the UK's largest operator of tool rental locations. If work slows down because tools are lacking, construction workers can go to Speedy Hire. The company rents tools and building equipment to companies, contractors, DIY consumers, the government, and utilities through some 400 outlets in the UK and Ireland. The company hires out access towers, drills, generators, heaters, pumps, and woodworking tools, among other items. Its some 60 lifting depots rent joists, jacks, and below-the-hook material-handling equipment. In 2007 Speedy Hire acquired the tool rental business of Hewden Stuart Plc, adding more than 180 locations to its network of depots across the UK.

Brantano keeps the whole family on its feet. Brantano NV provides a wide variety of women's, men's, children's, and sports shoes. Brentano also offers accessories such as handbags, wallets, insoles, and shoe care items. Its shoes range in price from 25-125 Euros. Brantano NV provides shoes under its own brands and international brands, including NIKE, Clarks, and Reebok. Brantano sells its footwear in about 285 stores in Belgium, including Luxembourg, and the UK, as well as about a dozen franchises the Middle East. Brantano NV plans to expand its operations in other European countries. Netherlands-based Macintosh Retail Group acquired the Belgian shoe retailer in early 2008.

Kooperativa Förbundet (KF) is a smorgasbord of Swedish retailers. The organization (aka the Swedish Co-operative Union) is a federation of more than 45 consumer cooperative societies with more than 3 million members throughout Sweden. KF's core grocery retail group, with about 20% of the Swedish grocery market, is run by subsidiary Coop Sverige and includes Sweden's largest hypermarket chain, Coop Forum, as well as Coop Konsum, Daglivs, the Mataffären online store, and other chains. Other businesses include: Kooperativa Forbundet Fastigheter, which develops shopping centers; Kooperativa Forbundet Media, involved in book selling (Akademibokhandeln bookstores and bokus.com) and publishing (P.A. Norstedt & Söner); finance; and other activities.

The family-run company was founded in 1936 by the late Charles Armstrong. Apparently, Californians can grow more than citrus and palms. Armstrong Brothers Capital Nursery operates retail nurseries in Sacramento, Citrus Heights, and Elk Grove, California. The experienced staff offers plant recommendations, troubleshooting, and professional landscape design and installation. The company's Web site gives relevant weather information, gardening tips, and information on less familiar plants in California for customers. Capital Nursery also airs a weekly gardening show on a local AM radio station to answer questions and speak to special guests.

Newegg Inc. is the second-largest online-only retailer in the United States. It owns and operates Newegg.com (www.newegg.com) which was founded in 2001 and regularly earns industry-leading customer service ratings. The award-winning website has more than 13 million registered users and offers customers a comprehensive selection of the latest high-tech products, detailed product descriptions and images, as well as how-to information and customer reviews. Using the site’s online tech community, customers have the opportunity to interact with other computer, gaming and consumer electronics enthusiasts. Newegg Inc. is headquartered in City of Industry, California.

The Wet Seal, Inc., a specialty retailer, operates stores that sell fashionable and contemporary apparel and accessory items designed for female customers. The company operates two primarily mall-based chains of retail stores under the Wet Seal and Arden B names. Its Wet Seal stores provide fashionable and basic apparel, and accessories for teenage girls; and Arden B stores offer contemporary collections of fashion, basic separates, and accessories for the feminine contemporary woman. In addition, the company operates Web-based stores, including wetseal.com that provides Wet Seal merchandise; and ardenb.com, which offers Arden B apparel and accessories. As of May 1, 2010, it had 501 stores, including 422 Wet Seal stores and 79 Arden B stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The Wet Seal, Inc. was founded in 1962 and is based in Foothill Ranch, California.

Auchan's mammoth markets make room for more than meals. France's second-largest food retailer (behind Carrefour), Auchan operates some 740 supermarkets and about 515 hypermarkets (French for supercenters) in about a dozen countries. France represents 47% of Auchan's sales, but the firm has stores throughout Europe and in China, Dubai, Russia, and Taiwan. (Auchan exited the US, Mexico, and Morocco in recent years.) Its hypermarkets carry up to 100,000 products, including groceries, apparel, consumer electronics, and fast food. They also provide travel services. Auchan's other core businesses include banking (Banque Accord), and shopping mall development (Immochan). The founding Mulliez family controls Auchan.

Protecting Ronald Reagan's papers and propping up the San Francisco art world would seem like a tall order, but Pacific Coast Building Products does both. The building materials manufacturer and distributor made roof tiles for Reagan's presidential library and concrete blocks for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Through its subsidiaries, Pacific Coast sells building products for residential, commercial, and industrial construction to builders and contractors in the western US, Hawaii, and Canada. It also provides installation and transportation services. The late Fred Anderson (father-in-law of president and CEO David Lucchetti) founded Pacific Coast Building Products, Inc. company as Anderson Lumber in 1953; his family owns the firm.

Esselunga is owned by Supermarkets Italiani S.p.A., and controlled by its founder and chairman Bernardo Caprotti and family.Esselunga is a leading Italian grocery store chain, with about 130 supermarkets and superstores, or hypermarkets, throughout northern Italy. The company also had real estate assets which it hived off into a separate company, La Villata S.p.A., in 2005. The Italian grocery chain has long been rumored to be a takeover target of foreign retailers because it operates in some of the richest regions in Italy. The company has been busy opening new stores and remodeling existing locations. Founded in 1957.

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