The subsidiary of CDW Corporation bought Technology Resource Center, which served higher education customers, in late 2006 and folded it into its operations. You might say this company is schooled in how best to sell computers to the public sector. CDW Government is a leading supplier of computer products to public education institutions and other federal, state, and local government agencies. It offers wide selection of hardware and software, networking equipment and computer peripherals, and general office supplies and furniture. CDW Government sells products through its Web site and catalogs and through a direct sales force.

There might be a trip to Best Buy for some CDs or a television in your future. Best Buy Canada operates about 210 consumer electronics superstores under the three brands: Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, and Future Shop. The retail outlets offer televisions, computers, and DVD players, as well as cameras, CDs, DVDs, mobile phones, and software. In addition the Future Shop stores, which average 26,700 square feet and are smaller than Best Buy Canada locations, offer home appliances, office supplies, and maintenance services. Best Buy Canada also offers customers in-home and commercial technical support through its Geek Squad services unit. US-based retail giant Best Buy acquired the Future Shop chain in 2002.

Haggen showers shoppers in the Pacific Northwest with salmon, coffee, and other essentials. The area's largest independent grocer, Haggen operates 30-plus combination supermarkets throughout Washington and Oregon. Most upscale Haggen Food & Pharmacy stores feature specialty departments, while the TOP Food & Drug outlets emphasize savings; however, both may offer such amenities as Starbucks coffee shops, Blockbuster video outlets, or child-care centers. To keep up with the Joneses of supermarket fame and fortune, Haggen partnered with ShopEaze.com (an e-commerce service provider), which failed, leaving Haggen without an online store. Brothers and co-chairmen Don and Rick Haggen own the chain.

Focus (DIY) Limited company is owned by US investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Focus (DIY) Limited has its sights fixed on weekend warriors. The company markets a range of products for do-it-yourselfers engaged in light home improvement and gardening projects, including power tools, hardware, appliances, decking and flooring, contemporary home and patio furniture, garden buildings, and plants and seeds. Focus sells its merchandise through about 180 stores in the UK and Ireland, as well as through its Web site. The site also offers guides, price lists, and calculators for DIY projects.

The doors may be closed at Price Rite Pharmacy, but priceritepharmacy is open for business. Operating what's known as a closed-door pharmacy, Price Rite Pharmacy provides prescription and over-the-counter medications, nutritional products, skin and wound care supplies, incontinence supplies, and more to customers in the San Diego area. The company also offers "Medicine-On-Time" service, which packages a customer's multiple daily medicines in sealed dosage bubble packets. While priceritepharmacy serves the general public, it does not operate any retail locations; instead it fills orders via mail order and delivery service.

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.

Commercial Tire was founded in 1968. Commercial Tire is trying to roll out of Les Schwab's shadow. Commercial Tire offers tires and automotive services at about 40 locations in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, where Les Schwab holds rein as the largest privately owned tire dealer. Its menu of under-car services includes oil changes, alignment, battery installation, and brake repair. Commercial Tire shops also offer custom wheels for cars, trucks, and SUVs. Serving fleets as well as individual consumers, Commercial Tire Inc. operates four Bandag tire retreading plants.

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.

Mailing more than 180 million catalogs a year, Hanover Direct sells home fashions (The Company Store, Domestications), as well as men's and women's apparel (International Male, Silhouettes, and Undergear). Each catalog has a corresponding e-commerce site. In addition to its own websites, Hanover Direct also sells its products through affiliated third-party websites, such as Amazon.com. The company makes Scandia Down brand comforters and pillows for sale in its catalogs, on its websites, and several retail outlet stores. Hanover Direct is owned by the New York-based hedge fund Chelsey Capital.

Blish-Mize Co. has distribution centers in Colorado and Kansas. Aside from its wholesaling business, Blish-Mize operates toolmaker Hardware House with House-Hasson. Brothers-in-law David Blish, Edward Mize, and Jack Silliman founded the firm in 1871 to outfit wagon trains. President and CEO John Mize, Jr., represents the fourth generation of the family-owned company. Hardware supplier Blish-Mize distributes more than 52,000 products to hardware stores, home centers, lumberyards, and paint stores in a dozen states in the heartland of the US. Its catalog includes hand and power tools, lawn equipment, hardware, paint, heating and cooling products, housewares, plumbing and electrical supplies, and sporting goods.

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