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.

Since its founding in 1953, Best Denki has expanded its international network to include about 45 locations across Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. The Japanese electronics retailer is looking to partner with another firm to expand outside Asia as it retrenches at home. In recent years, Best Denki's sales have suffered from competition from rival electronics retailers and online shopping sites. Shopping for electronics in Japan? Best Denki might just have what you are looking for. The company operates more than 200 mass discount stores that sell consumer electronics throughout the country, primarily targeting customers in the Kyushu and Chugoku regions.

It was founded in 1913 by W.S. Cowling, Sr. Dixieline ProBuild (formerly Dixieline Lumber & Home Centers) operates in the deep south of California. The company, owned by Pro-Build Holdings, serves do-it-yourselfers, contractors, and remodelers through about a dozen lumberyard-home centers in the San Diego area. Each location is stocked with 35,000 SKUs, a lumber dock, and in-store door and window showrooms as well as kitchen and bath design centers. It also operates a facility for making trusses, milling, and remanufacturing. The business brings lumber to the West Coast through a dock facility in Oregon, and it also distributes structural lumber and framing and sheathing materials.

Variety is not only the spice of life -- it's also a major purveyor of deeply discounted merchandise. With some 425 stores in about 15 Southeastern states, Variety Wholesalers has survived even Wal-Mart's march through rural America. The company, which has aggressively bought other chains while closing poorly performing stores, tends to set up shop in small towns where the retail giants fear to tread. Its retail outlets sell beauty products, housewares, snacks, toys and more, under banners including Bargain Town, Maxway, Roses, and Super 10. Variety Wholesalers was founded in 1949 by James Pope; the Pope family, including chairman and CEO Art Pope, still runs the company.

QuikTrip provides a quick fix for those on the go. QuikTrip (QT) owns and operates some 535 gasoline/convenience stores in nine states, mostly in the central US. QT stores, which average 4,200 to 5,000 sq. ft., feature the company's own QT brand of gas and diesel fuel, as well as brand-name beverages, candy, and tobacco, and QT's Quik 'n Tasty and HOTZI lines of sandwiches. QT's 15-plus travel centers offer scales, food, fuel, showers, and other services for truckers. The firm's FleetMaster program offers commercial trucking companies detailed reports showing drivers' product purchases, amounts spent, and odometer readings. QT was co-founded in 1958 by chairman Chester Cadieux. His son Chet runs the company.

Robb & Stucky sells home furnishings and decor from about 30 retail showrooms in Arizona, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas. It also operates an outlet location in Florida. The stores sell indoor furniture, including dining room table sets, sofas, loveseats, chairs, occasional tables, and accent pieces, as well as patio furniture. The company also markets furnishings through its catalogs and website. In addition to its retail operations, Robb & Stucky serves up international cuisine from a culinary center in Florida. The company was founded in 1915.

Industria de Diseno Textil (Inditex) makes disposable chic fashions that are here today and gone tomorrow. The Spanish designer-cum-retailer uses technology and an armada of designers to master cheap chic. Inditex sells on a global scale, with some 4,430 shops in 75-plus countries under eight different banners: Zara, Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Zara Home, and Uterque. Located mostly in Europe, the firm's stores answer to popular trends by telling designers in Spain what customers are asking for locally. Inditex responds in about two weeks with new designs. Amancio Ortega Gaona, Spain's wealthiest businessman, founded Zara in 1975 and later created Inditex as a holding company.

Small Island Trader sells ceramics and crystal objects online to private buyers globally. Its web site contains more than 50,000 items, ranging from Wedgwood china to collectible paperweights and Versace ashtrays and other collectibles. The company secures its merchandise from about 20 leading ceramics manufacturers. Founded in 1997 by husband-and-wife team Alexandra and Jim Murray (managing director and creative director, respectively), the company is still owned by the couple.

Grocery Outlet founded in 1946, the third-generation family-owned company sold an equity stake to the Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners in fall 2009. Grocery Outlet Inc. Company Profile Grocery Outlet operates about 135 deep-discount supermarkets in a half dozen western states, primarily California, Oregon, and Washington. The stores, which average about 20,000 square feet, sell a wide range of name-brand products, including groceries, wine and beer, fresh produce, household items, health and beauty care products, and over-the-counter drugs at up to 60% less than traditional supermarket chains. More than 50 of Grocery Outlet's stores are located in California.

Mattress Giant Corporation sells mattresses, bed frames, headboards, futons, daybeds, pillows, and other sleep-related products through its website and some 360 stores in about more than a dozen states. Most Mattress Giant locations are in or around big cities, including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Philadelphia. The firm offers more than 40 mattress brands, including Simmons, Serta, Sealy, Tempur-Pedic, and AirSprung. Founded in 1992, Mattress Giant is owned by private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co., which acquired the business in 2006.

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